Girl hit by stray bullet from Myanmar being moved to Dhaka’s Neurosciences Institute

The Bangladeshi child from Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf upazila, who was injured by a stray bullet during intense clashes between the Arakan Army and Rohingya armed groups inside Myanmar, is being shifted to the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital in Dhaka for advanced treatment.

Chattogram Medical College Hospital (CMCH) Director Brig Gen Taslim Uddin confirmed the matter to The Daily Star today.

He said doctors failed to remove the bullet despite hours of complex surgery, as it is lodged in a highly critical part of the brain. “Any attempt to remove it could endanger the child’s life.”

Huzaifa Afnan, of Whykong union’s Teschi Bridge area, was shot during the firing from across the border that began around 11:00pm on Saturday and continued until about 10:00am on Sunday in the Totar Dwip area.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Hanif, 28, of Lambabil area in the same union had his left leg amputated after being injured in a landmine explosion while working at a fish enclosure yesterday morning.

Doctors at CMCH were forced to amputate his injured left leg during surgery around 3:00am today, his brother Anwar Hossain said.

He said Hanif’s overall condition remains critical.

Local residents said the explosion threw Hanif into the river, from where fishermen rescued him. He was first taken to MSF Hospital in Kutupalong of Ukhiya upazila, and later shifted to CMCH.

Locals alleged the landmine was planted by the Arakan Army along the border in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.