BGB member injured in Bandarban landmine blast dies after 20 days

A Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) member, who was injured in a landmine explosion along the Tumbru border in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban, has died after 20 days of treatment at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka.

The deceased, Nayek Md Akhtar Hossain, a member of BGB’s Cox’s Bazar 34 Battalion and a resident of Bhola district, succumbed to his injuries around 11am on Friday (October 31), confirmed Lt Col S M Khairul Alam, commanding officer of the battalion.

He said the injured soldier was airlifted from Ramu Cantonment CMH to Dhaka CMH on October 13 for advanced treatment after the blast. “He had been under intensive care since then but could not recover from his critical injuries,” he added.

The BGB official said Akhtar Hossain’s body has been kept at the CMH morgue. On Saturday, it will be taken by helicopter to his ancestral home in Bhola, where he will be buried with full military honors.

Earlier, a BGB patrol team came under a landmine explosion reportedly planted by Myanmar’s rebel group Arakan Army near the Tumbru border. The blast left Akhtar Hossain critically injured, severing one of his ankles and severely damaging the other leg.