Bangladesh troops seize mines after gun battle
Bangladeshi troops fought tribal gunmen and seized nearly 40 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines in the densely forested Chittagong Hill Tracts, where rebel violence lingers on despite a peace pact six years ago, security officials said on Thursday.
"The exchange occurred when tribal gunmen tried to ambush security patrol near the Myanmar border," Lieutenant Colonel Hasinur Rahman of paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) told reporters.Tribal rebels in the 5,500 sq mile (14,200 sq km) Hill Tracts, bordering India and Myanmar, fought a 25-year insurgency against the Bangladeshi army demanding political autonomy. They signed a peace pact with the government in 1997 but remnants of the Shanti Bahini rebels have since killed more than 200 people, police said. Seized weapons after the gunfight on Wednesday night included 32 anti-tankmines, seven anti-personnel land mines, six rocket launchers, a grenade and 30 chargers for rocket launcher. Security officials said soldiers exchanged fire for half an hour before occupying a hideout of suspected militants or weapons smugglers in Panchhariforest, 350 km (220 miles) southeast of Dhaka.T here were no casualties among the paramilitary troops.
