BAF official, Rohingya woman killed

Muktadir Rashid

An officer of the Bangladesh Air Force and a Rohingya woman were killed and a member of the Rapid Action Battalion was badly injured during an anti-smuggling operation on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border near Naikhyangchari under the Bandarban district on Monday night.

Squadron Leader Rizwan Rushdee, 30, a helicopter pilot commissioned in June 2013 and deputed to the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, was found killed along the border hours after the RAB and the agency jointly conducted the operation along Konarpara of Tambru border.

Officials in intelligence agencies and the home ministry in Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar told New Age on Tuesday that Rizwan was trapped in the porous border in the dark when an armed group linked to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army had opened fire to rescue one suspect, Babul, in the drive. The 17-member RAB team could arrest one Jamal, but when they tried to arrest Babul, he screamed, and that led to the firing, said one of the intelligence officials.

‘During the clash with drug smugglers, an on-duty DGFI officer [BAF officer] embraced martyrdom by sacrificing his life for the country, and a RAB member was injured,’ said a press release issued by the Inter Services Public Relations Directorate in the early hours of Tuesday.

Nearly two hours after the exchange of fires, Rizwan’s body was dropped, and Border Guard Bangladesh posted in bordering Naikhyangchari recovered it at about 9:30pm, said multiple home ministry and intelligence sources. He was brutally tortured, said one of the officials.

According to the ISPR, Rizwan has been serving in the defence intelligence agency since May 16, 2022.

Rohingya leaders said that Rohingya woman Sajeda Begum, 20, was shot dead in the line of fire exchanged on the night near Zero Point.

Injured RAB member Sohel Barua was rushed to nearby Cox’s Bazar district hospital later in the night.

The hospital’s resident medical officer, Ashikur Rahman, said on Tuesday that the RAB member was shifted to Dhaka in critical condition.

Talking to reporters, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said on Tuesday that the anti-drug drive was conducted based on information from the DGFI.

The minister stated that an investigation was underway to determine how the BAF officer was shot and by whom.

The duty officer at Naikhyangchari police station, assistant sub-inspector Md Mithun Mondol, stated that no case was filed and none came with any complaints.

Security strategist retired Major General Md Nayeem Ashfaque Chowdhury said that it was surprising and shocking to see an intelligence officer killed in the line of fire or in an operation.

‘As long as it is along the border, it falls under the jurisdiction of the BGB. Now, it should be looked into to see whether the operational plan was well coordinated,’ said Nayeem, who was a former director of military operations of the Bangladesh Army.

Both BGB and RAB officials declined to comment despite repeated attempts on Tuesday.

No statement from ARSA was available until this morning. The ISPR officials said Rizwan was born in Dhaka on December 15, 1992, was commissioned to the Air Force on June 1, 2013, and was married to Anjuma Rumman, also a Squadron Leader in the air force.

He would be buried in his ancestral home in Rajbari.