Episode: KPN 11-06-2026

Arakan Army detains 16 Rohingya after Bangladesh pushback

Sixteen Rohingya refugees, including breastfeeding infants and elderly people, were detained by the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine armed group that controls large swathes of western Myanmar, after Bangladesh pushed them back across the border.

The group of the persecuted Muslim minority, all from Buthidaung Township in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, had attempted to cross the Naf River into neighboring Bangladesh by boat on the night of June 6, according to local residents and witnesses.

Witnesses said personnel from Bangladesh’s Border Guard intercepted the group while they were trying to enter the country and returned them to the Myanmar side of the border at around 5 a.m. on June 7 near Mingala Gyi village in Maungdaw Township.

After being left near the riverbank outside the border fence amid heavy rain, the Rohingya refugees reportedly tried to enter a nearby village to seek shelter and safety.

Shortly afterward, AA border guards detained them and took them to the Pyin Phyu Chaung Wa outpost at around 6 a.m., local residents said. The group remained in custody there as of June 7.

Residents expressed particular concern over the condition of those detained, saying the group included breastfeeding babies and elderly people who relied on walking sticks to move around.

“We saw small children and elderly people soaked by the rain. They looked very tired and weak,” one local witness said.

Another resident said many of the refugees had been exposed to heavy rain for hours and appeared exhausted.

“The weather was very bad, and many of them were shivering from the cold. People are worried about their health,” the resident said.

The latest incident underscores the increasingly precarious situation facing Rohingya attempting to flee Myanmar, with refugees often finding themselves trapped between closed borders, deteriorating humanitarian conditions and competing authorities along the frontier.

Tagged as: Rohingya refugee camp, community schools, APBn, ICJ, RRRC, foods shortage, Balukhali, accountability, Sittwe, hungers, Bangadesh refugee camp, Bangladesh, Teknaf, ration cut, BGP, Genocide Convention, Burma-Bangladesh border, Arakan, RSO, Buthidaung, BGB, Burma, Malaysia going boat, IDP camp in Arakan, Arakan Army, Myanmar, Military navy, Kutupalong, Cox's Bazar, Rohingya boat people, Maungdaw, Military Council force, Rakhine, IIMM, Rathedaung, ARSA, Rohingya, war crimes, Rohingya Refugee, Camp schools, Akyab, ICC.