An unidentified armed group from Burma entered a remote village in Bangladesh near the border and fired several rounds in the air, said a villager.

“About 15 armed men fired in the air forcing villagers flee when they entered our village,” he said.

The incident occurred in a remote village in Nakhongsari Township in Bandarban hill district, near the Burma border on May 20.

“Our village is small and located at the upper end of a river in Bangladesh which local people call “Pan Wacreek”. The villagers fled when they saw the armed group,” the villager said.

The armed group was in green coloured uniforms similar to those of the Burmese Army but the villagers could not identify whether they were Burmese Army troops or Arakanese guerrillas.

The incident was reported by villagers to the border forces in Nakhongsari. However, there is no information whether Bangladeshi border security forces pushed them back to Burma, a local source said.

A monk from the area said, the armed group collected ransom money from bamboo and wood cutters, in the area, before they left.

Most villagers in the area are apprehensive about their security after the incident, the monk added.