India Tells Nationals to Leave Myanmar’s Rakhine Region Immediately

NEW DELHI, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- India has told its nationals in Myanmar's Rakhine region to leave immediately due to fighting there.

The conflict between Myanmar security forces and the Arakan Army, an armed group of the Rakhine ethnic minority, has intensified in the area bordering Bangladesh.

"Indian citizens already in Rakhine are advised to leave the state immediately.

"In view of the deteriorating security situation, disruption of means of telecommunications, including landlines, and severe scarcity of essential commodities, all Indian citizens are advised not to travel to the Rakhine state of Myanmar," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.

Those Indian citizens who are already in Rakhine state are advised to leave the state immediately," it said.

Bangladesh summoned Myanmar's ambassador on Tuesday to lodge a protest over the violence.

A mortar shell from across the border killed two people in Bangladesh on Monday.

Many Myanmar residents have crossed into Bangladesh in recent days.

They include 116 Myanmar troops who fled on Tuesday.

"Against the backdrop of armed conflict inside Myanmar, so far 229 personnel of their Border Guard Police (BGP), regular soldiers, immigration officials, policemen and members of other agencies entered Bangladesh," Border Guard Bangladesh spokesman Shariful Islam was quoted as saying in a Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha news agency report.

Meanwhile, India will fence its 1,643-km-long border with Myanmar to improve security.

Apart from building the fence, a patrol track along the border will also be paved for better surveillance, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday.

"Out of the total border length, a 10 km stretch in Moreh, Manipur, has already been fenced," the minister said in a social media post.

Myanmar borders the northeastern Indian states of Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

-- BERNAMA