Bangladesh, Myanmar troops clash over missing soldier

DHAKA: Gunfire erupted on Friday between troops along the Myanmar-Bangladeshi border over a soldier Bangladesh alleges was shot by its neighbour’s security forces and dragged over the frontier. The clash broke out on Friday afternoon after the man’s body was not delivered back to Bangladesh’s border police as expected, said Devdash Bhattacharya, police chief in the southeastern district of Bandarban. “The Myanmar Border Police was supposed to return the body today (Friday), but we’ve just received reports that gunfire has erupted at the border,” he said. Bhattacharya alleged the Myanmar Border Police took away the Bangladeshi soldier’s bullet-riddled body after they opened fire on his patrol team along the border on May 28. Bangladesh shares a short stretch of land with Myanmar in the Bandarban district, which sees periodic tension, while the rest of its land borders are with India. Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2014