Bangladeshi killed in gunbattle nea

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Bangladeshi killed in gunbattle near Myanmar refugee camp

Fri 25 Sep 98 - 09:21 GMT

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, Sept 25 (AFP) - A man was killed and some 30 people,
including seven policemen,were wounded in a gunbattle near a camp for
Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh, police said Friday.

The hour-long violence broke out near the Noapara camp late Thursday after
hundreds of villagers attacked a police post, angered by the detention of a
trader on suspicion he was supplying arms to militant refugees inside.

A police official at the frontier district of Cox's Bazar, where the camp
was located, said police opened fire after volleys of shots were fired on
them during the clash.

A 28-year villager was killed and some 20 to 25 others were wounded, some of
whom were treated locally, police and residents said, adding that among
seven wounded policemen, the condition of one was reported to be serious.

More police were deployed in the area overnight and officials said the
situation was calm early Friday.

Police said the trader was detained with a sack he claimed contained
essentials for the refugees inside the camp. During an altercation, some
militant refugees came out and snatched it.

Previous violence among police, refugees and villagers in past years left
many people dead and wounded.

Noapara is one of two remaining camps housing some 21,500 Myanmar nationals,
called Rohingyas, many of whom refuse to return, with militants among them
reportedly arming themselves against any attempt by Bangladeshi authorities
to repatriate them by force.

More than 280,000 refugees fled neighbouring Myanmar in 1992 alleging
persecution by the military regime there, a charge denied in Yangon.

Some 250,000 of them were repatriated under a Dhaka-Yangon agreement that
year. But the process was stalled in July 1995 with some of the militant
refugees refusing to return.