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Huge arms, ammo recovered from Bangladesh's southeastern hill region after gunfight with insurgents

Xinhua, September 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

A huge cache of arms, ammunition and electronic gadgets were recovered after a gun-battle between Bangladesh Army personnel and militants in the country's southeastern Chittagong hill region early Monday.

Based on inputs that armed cadres of regional political group -- Jana Sanghati Samiti (JSS-MN Larma), were camping there, military personnel were mobilized near the place in Khagrachari district, some 259 km southeast of capital Dhaka, said an official.

Sensing the presence of the military personnel, armed rebels opened indiscriminate firing on them following which security forces retaliated, he said.

After a short while the criminals managed to escape under the cover of darkness, he added.

"We've later recovered five firearms, 450 bullets and six pairs of military uniforms and hand grenades from the area," said the Khagrachari district administration official who preferred to be unnamed.

He said the army searched the spot and its surrounding areas and arrest one person in this connection.

He claimed that the culprit is an armed member of the regional political group -- JSS-MN Larma.

A Spokesman of the political group was not immediately available for comment.

Five suspected insurgents were killed in a clash with the Bangladesh Army also in Chittagong hill region last month.

Last month's encounter between the army and JSS, a former rebel group which has been waging an insurgency since 1975 for political autonomy in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) bordering India and Myanmar, was the first of its kind since 1997.

The bitter insurgency ended in 1997 after JSS leaders signed a peace accord with the Bangladesh government.

Despite the peace accord, JSS reportedly continued to have a bloody feud with another hill-based organization the United Peoples' Democratic Front (UPDF) and JSS-MN Larma.

Bangladesh Army claimed the victims were armed members of two regional political groups -- UPDF and JSS-MN Larma.

The UPDF and the JSS had later denied any link with those killed in the fighting. Endi