The deaths of seven suspected Rohingya robbers in a single incident of so-called crossfire are not normal, even in an environment where such extrajudicial killings have become the new normal. The latest incident of an alleged gunfight with suspected criminals in the Teknaf area in Cox's Bazar involved the elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The sheer scale of these killings in a single operation on March 2 has alarmed most rights' activists, who are fearful of a return to the past when RAB earned global criticism and international organisations like Human Rights Watch called for the disbanding of the force. Following a global outcry, RAB in recent years have seemingly shown some restraint, although crossfire remains a favoured tactic of security forces in the fight against drugs, terrorism and other crimes. But, more worryingly, a new investigation shows that Cox's Bazar accounts for more than one-fourth of all crossfire-deaths in the country, even before these seve...