Bangladesh-Myanmar row continues<\/p>\n
TEKNAF, Bangladesh (AP): Schools closed and thousands of
\nvillagers fled their frontier homes on Monday after Bangladesh
\nand Myanmar reinforced troops in a dispute over building of an
\nembankment on a river shared by the two neighbors.<\/p>\n
The weekend buildup came after border troops of the two
\ncountries exchanged fire over Myanmar's construction of the
\nembankment on the River Naaf.<\/p>\n
Myanmar halted the construction after Dhaka's protests.
\nBut Myanmar continued to bring in army troops along its border
\nsince the clashes, said Bangladesh army officers.<\/p>\n
"We have reports that Myanmar has deployed more than 25,000
\narmy troops along the border. We, too, are ready to confront if
\nthey attack us," Col. Shawkat Ali, a commander of the Bangladesh
\nborder guards, told reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n
About 2,500 people who left their farming villages of
\nUlubunia, Anjumanpara, Totatuli and Katakhali on Sunday and
\nMonday to live with relatives or in school buildings.<\/p>\n
Some families sent women and children away while men stayed
\nback to guard the property.<\/p>\n
There is an undeclared curfew along the Myanmar side of the
\nborder because of the troop movement, he said.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh has offered to hold a meeting between senior
\ncommanders of both countries, he said.<\/p>\n
Ali refused to disclose the number of Bangladeshi troops
\ndeployed along a part of the 500-kilometer border.<\/p>\n
Many of the Bangladeshi border guards have taken positions in
\nschool buildings, which are empty because villagers have fled
\nduring the past few days.<\/p>\n
"We are taking no risk," said Abul Hossain, 40, a farmer,
\nwhile leaving his village, Anjumanpara, on Monday, along with his
\nwife and three children.<\/p>\n
The family was carrying bedding to use while staying in a
\nrelative's house five kilometers inside the frontier, 320
\nkilometers south of Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital.<\/p>",
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