Nurul Alam, a 50-year-old Rohingya refugee, said he scaled the barbed wire fence and took refuge in Myanmar after the fighting began, but was sent back to Bangladesh by border guard police.
“We do not know what is in store for us. We have no shelter, water, toilet or food.”
Another refugee, Abdul Hamid, 39, said the latest development reminded him of the suffering he suffered after the 2017 military operation. “We are afraid to return to our destroyed shelters amid the fighting.”
Abdur Rahman, a trader in Tumbru Bazar, said locals fear the area will become a refugee camp like Cox’s Bazar.
Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Mizanuzzaman Chowdhury said the Rohingya in Tumbru were being provided food through the ICRC since Saturday. He said that information is also being collected about the number of refugees.
Romain Sharma, chief executive officer of the Nakkhyangchari subdistrict administration, said the border guard Bangladesh and local law enforcement are closely monitoring the situation.