Concerns about ethnic cleansing targeting the stateless Rohingya Muslim population are intensifying following news that hundreds of people—including women and children—were murdered by drone strikes last week as they fled turmoil in Rakhine state, western Myanmar.
In one video, geolocated to the western edge of Maungdaw township’s Myo Ma ward on the banks of the river, a man sobs as he walks down a muddy path stained with blood. The bodies of men, women and children can be seen lying in the sand, grass and pools of water. Piles of their colorful clothing and belongings are scattered half-submerged around them. Witnesses and Rohingya activists told CNN that a series of drone strikes on August 5 hit civilians fleeing fighting and violence in their villages in Maungdaw, northern Rakhine. The displaced families had been waiting to cross the river to Bangladesh at the time of the attack, they said.
Unverified reports put the death toll at about 200 people, which, if confirmed, would be one of the deadliest attacks against civilians in Myanmar’s three-year civil war, a conflict that broke out following the military’s 2021 coup. Witnesses and activists who spoke to CNN claim the Arakan Army (AA), a powerful ethic armed group fighting the Myanmar military, were responsible for last Monday’s attacks on the Rohingya.
The AA has denied involvement, saying in a statement that “these deaths did not occur in areas under our control and are not related to our organization.” Reports by activists and local media suggest attacks in villages close to Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh, along the Naf River, continued in the days after August 5, with accounts of more deaths, sexual violence, the burning of homes and forced conscription by the AA. “The fighting is increasing,” Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist and co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, who spoke with residents in Maungdaw, told CNN Monday. “There are about 4,000 to 5,000 people fleeing to AA-controlled areas and some 5,000 people in the downtown area.” Fighting between the AA and the Myanmar military have intensified around Maungdaw in recent weeks as the rebel group continues its offensive to seize more military posts and towns from the junta.
Hasan, a 24-year-old student who spoke with CNN by phone from Bangladesh on Friday, said he fled his village north of Maungdaw on August 5, following a series of drones and artillery attacks that he said were launched by the AA. “In the first drone attack, 30 people were killed and in the second attack… I saw 50 people dead,” he said. Two villages were set on fire, he added. Hasan, who goes by one name, was shot in his right leg as he fled to the river, according to X-ray and medical records he shared with CNN.But Hasan said he is one of the lucky ones. He managed to board a boat and cross the 2-mile stretch of river to Bangladesh.
“It was not easy to cross the border. During the attack I got to a boat. After one hour waiting in the middle of the river, we crossed the Bangladesh border,” he said. “People were dead in the river… Luckily I safely reached Bangladesh.” In May, the AA seized the town of Buthidaung, east of Maungdaw. Subsequent reports from activists and relatives emerged of extrajudicial killings, fighters torching and looting Rohingya neighborhoods, and forcing thousands of people to flee.
Forced recruitment of Rohingya men and boys is stoking religious tensions between the Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities, the report said. “Ethnic Rohingya and Rakhine civilians are bearing the brunt of the atrocities that the Myanmar military and opposition Arakan Army are committing,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Both sides are using hate speech, attacks on civilians, and massive arson to drive people from their homes and villages, raising the specter of ethnic cleansing.”
Source: Here