Heavy fighting erupted across the Naf River on Saturday as the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine insurgent group, clashed with the Rohingya rebel faction Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA) near Totar Island in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, sending the sound of gunfire echoing deep into Bangladesh’s borderlands.
The fierce exchanges – fought in two separate rounds between noon and dusk – rattled residents in Teknaf, where stray bullets from the Myanmar side struck Bangladeshi soil.
One woman, Chenuara Begum, was wounded in the leg by a stray round in the Techchibrij area of Hnila Union, officials confirmed.
“I was walking in my yard when a bullet hit my leg out of nowhere,” said Chenuara Begum, speaking from her hospital bed. “I fell to the ground before I even understood what had happened.”
Local sources said the clashes broke out when several Arakan Army fighters were ambushed by ARA gunmen, who were returning by boat to their base on Totar Island. The AA retaliated with automatic weapons and light rocket launchers, unleashing a barrage that could be heard miles away.
“Suddenly we heard heavy gunfire from across the river – the sound was deafening,” said local shopkeeper Mostak Ahmed. “Moments later, a bullet tore through my shop’s tin roof. Everyone ran for cover.”
Hnila Union Parishad Chairman Nur Ahmed Anowari said authorities have urged Dhaka to reinforce security along the border. “We heard intense gunfire from the Myanmar side and soon after learnt a woman was shot. We fear the situation could spill over,” he said.
Teknaf’s chief administrative officer Sheikh Ehsan Uddin said an investigation was under way. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has not issued a statement yet.
Totar Island, located opposite Bangladesh’s Whykong village, has become a flashpoint in recent months. Local sources say ARA fighters have regrouped there to reclaim lost territory after being driven out by the Arakan Army’s sweeping offensives across Rakhine. The island has long served as a strategic corridor for the ARA’s cross-border drug trafficking operations, now under pressure from AA’s expanding control.
Saturday’s violence marks the latest spillover from Myanmar’s escalating civil conflict. Earlier this month, on 21 October, heavy gunfire was also reported across the border near Ghumdhum in Bandarban, followed by another flare-up near Ukhiya on 10 October.
With fighting intensifying along the frontier, Bangladeshi villagers now live on edge – listening each night for the thud of mortars and the rattle of machine guns drifting across the dark waters of the Naf.
