Dhaka [Bangladesh], January 13 : Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Myanmar Ambassador U Kyaw Soe Moe at noon today and expressed deep concern of Bangladesh at the recent incident of gunfire from Myanmar towards Bangladesh near Whykong Union of Teknaf, Cox's Bazar.
A 12-year-old Bangladeshi girl was severely injured during the cross-border firing, Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Bangladesh reminded that the unprovoked firing towards Bangladesh is a blatant violation of the international law and a hindrance to good neighbourly relationship.
Bangladesh asked Myanmar to take full responsibility and requisite measures to stop such cross-border firings in future. Bangladesh also asked to ensure that whatever happens between the Myanmar authorities and the armed groups in Myanmar should not anyway affect lives and livelihoods of the people in Bangladesh.
The Myanmar ambassador assured that his government would take measures to stop such incidents and expressed their sincere sympathy to the injured and her family.
Bangladesh's 271km (168-mile) eastern border with Myanmar cuts through forests and rivers, much of it unmarked. It is crossed daily by villagers, as their families have done for generations, to collect firewood or carry out small-time trading, as per Al Jazeera.
Myanmar is the world's most dangerous country for landmine casualties, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which has documented the "massive" and growing use of the weapons, banned by many states. The group recorded more than 2,000 casualties in Myanmar in 2024, the latest full year for which statistics are available, double the total reported the year before, as per Al Jazeera.
More than a million Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar also live in Bangladesh's border regions, caught between the warring military and separatist forces.
Bangladesh police say at least 28 people were injured by landmines in 2025. In November that year, a Bangladesh border guard was killed when a landmine tore off both his legs.
Bangladesh's border force has put up warning signs and red flags, and carries out regular mine-clearing operations. But villagers say warnings offer little protection when survival depends on entering forests seeded with explosives, leaving communities in Bangladesh vulnerable to the packages that come with wars, as per Al Jazeera.
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