Arakan, MINA – A Rohingya refugee named Mohammad Yunus (26) sustained serious injuries to his leg after stepping on a landmine near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.
According to the Arakan News Agency (ANA) on Saturday, the incident occurred on the night of Wednesday in Tumburu village, Naikhongchhari area, Bandarban district, Bangladesh.
Several Rohingya refugees from the Kutupalong camp told ANA that Yunus, a resident of Block 2W in the camp, was transporting food supplies at the time of the explosion. The supplies were reportedly intended for Arakan Army (AA) militants, a separatist group that controls much of Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.
After the explosion, local villagers brought Yunus to the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital inside the Kutupalong refugee camp, where doctors determined that an urgent leg amputation was necessary due to the severity of his injuries.
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Another refugee said the injured man is the father of three children under the age of seven, with a fourth child expected soon. Yunus had previously worked as a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) volunteer with Islamic Relief but lost his job in April after funding was suspended by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“Since then, he has been unemployed, relying on daily labor outside the camp,” the refugee said.
He added that the Arakan Army had recently hired Yunus to transport food rations to areas under their control inside Rakhine State.
Security risks continue to rise along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border due to the widespread presence of landmines planted as a result of the ongoing armed conflict.
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Just a few days earlier, a similar incident occurred when a Bangladeshi youth lost his leg in a landmine explosion in the Submarra border area. [Nia]
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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