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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...es-border-amnesty-international-a7938836.html
Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma being 'deliberately targeted' with landmines on border
'The Myanmar army is one of only a handful of state forces worldwide, along with North Korea and Syria, to still openly use antipersonnel landmines,' Amnesty International says
A young Bangladeshi farmer is the latest victim of land mines along the Burmese border, in what Amnesty International says is evidence of the deliberate targeting [URL='http://www.independent.co.uk/search/site/rohingya']Rohingya Muslims fleeing the country.
The man, in his early 20s, had his leg blown off after stepping on a mine near the Bangladeshi village of Baish Bari.
Another man is said to have been injured after a separate blast near Amtali village in Bangladesh, another common crossing point.
Read more
Amnesty International has accused the army in Burma - also known as Myanmar - of planting the landmines, which have caused serious injuries to a least five civilians over the past week. Two of the injured were children, Amnesty said, while there are reports of the death of another man.
“There is a reason why the use of antipersonnel landmines is illegal: they kill and maim indiscriminately and can’t distinguish between fighters and ordinary people,” said Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Director, who has been carrying out research on the Burma-Bangladesh border
“The Myanmar army is one of only a handful of state forces worldwide, along with North Korea and Syria, to still openly use antipersonnel landmines. Authorities must immediately end this abhorrent practice against people who are already fleeing persecution."
In a separate incident on 3 September, a woman in her 50s had her leg blown off from the knee down while crossing the border from Taung Pyo Let Wal.
Kalma, a relative, told Amnesty International the woman had gone to fetch water for a shower. “A few minutes later I heard a big explosion and I heard someone had stepped on a mine. It was only later I realised it was my mother-in-law.”
[/URL]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/myanmar-rohingya-muslims-land-mines-1.4283021
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/myanmar-rohingya-muslims-land-mines-1.4283021
Rohingya refugees accuse Myanmar military of planting mines along escape route
Bangladeshi officials and Amnesty researchers believe new explosives were recently planted
The Associated Press Posted: Sep 10, 2017 7:37 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 10, 2017 7:37 AM ET
Rohingya Muslim refugees wade through water after arriving by boat from Myanmar on Friday in Dakhinpara, Bangladesh. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Related Stories
Refugee accounts of the latest spasm of violence in Rakhine have typically described shootings by soldiers and arson attacks on villages. But there are at least several cases that point to anti-personnel land mines or other explosives as the cause of injuries on the border with Bangladesh, where 300,000 Rohingya have fled in the past two weeks.
AP reporters on the Bangladesh side of the border on Monday saw an elderly woman with devastating leg wounds: one leg with the calf apparently blown off and the other also badly injured. Relatives said she had stepped on a land mine.
Myanmar has one of the few militaries, along with North Korea and Syria, that has openly used anti-personnel land mines in recent years, according to Amnesty. An international treaty in 1997 outlawed the use of the weapons.
Lt. Col S.M. Ariful Islam, commanding officer of the Bangladesh border guard in Teknaf, said on Friday he was aware of at least three Rohingya injured in explosions.
Rohingya refugees collect water on Saturday from a tube well that was installed a few days ago at new refugee camp at Cox's Bazar Ukhia area in Bangladesh. (Bernat Armangue/Associated Press)
Bangladeshi officials and Amnesty researchers believe new explosives have been recently planted, including one that the rights group said blew off a Bangladeshi farmer's leg and another that wounded a Rohingya man. Both incidents occurred Sunday. It said at least three people including two children were injured in the past week.
"It may not be land mines, but I know there have been isolated cases of Myanmar soldiers planting explosives three to four days ago," Ariful said Friday.
Myanmar Presidential spokesman Zaw Htay did not answer phone calls seeking comment Sunday. Military spokesman Myat Min Oo said he couldn't comment without talking to his superiors. A major at the Border Guard Police headquarters in northern Maungdaw near the Bangladesh border also refused to comment.
Amnesty said that based on interviews with eyewitnesses and analysis by its own weapons experts, it believes there is "targeted use of landlines" along a narrow stretch of the north-western border of Rakhine state that is a crossing point for fleeing Rohingya.
The violence and exodus began on Aug. 25 when Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar police and paramilitary posts in what they said was an effort to protect their ethnic minority from persecution by security forces in the majority Buddhist country.
In response, the military unleashed what it called "clearance operations" to root out the insurgents. Accounts from refugees show the Myanmar military is also targeting civilians with shootings and wholesale burning of Rohingya villages in an apparent attempt to purge Rakhine state of Muslims.
Bloody anti-Muslim rioting that erupted in 2012 in Rakhine state forced more than 100,000 Rohingya into displacement camps in Bangladesh, where many still live today.
Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and persecution in Myanmar and are denied citizenship despite centuries-olds roots in the Rakhine region. Myanmar denies Rohingya exist as an ethnic group and says those living in Rakhine are illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Rohingya Muslims fleeing Burma being 'deliberately targeted' with landmines on border
'The Myanmar army is one of only a handful of state forces worldwide, along with North Korea and Syria, to still openly use antipersonnel landmines,' Amnesty International says
- [URL='http://www.independent.co.uk/author/sally-hayden']Sally Hayden
- 21 hours ago
- 4 comments
A young Bangladeshi farmer is the latest victim of land mines along the Burmese border, in what Amnesty International says is evidence of the deliberate targeting [URL='http://www.independent.co.uk/search/site/rohingya']Rohingya Muslims fleeing the country.
The man, in his early 20s, had his leg blown off after stepping on a mine near the Bangladeshi village of Baish Bari.
Another man is said to have been injured after a separate blast near Amtali village in Bangladesh, another common crossing point.
Read more
- How to help Rohingya Muslims fleeing 'genocide' in Burma
- Rohingya insurgents declare month-long unilateral ceasefire
- Desperation grows as Rohingya Muslims pour into refugee camps
- Desmond Tutu condemns Aung San Suu Kyi over Rohingya crisis
Amnesty International has accused the army in Burma - also known as Myanmar - of planting the landmines, which have caused serious injuries to a least five civilians over the past week. Two of the injured were children, Amnesty said, while there are reports of the death of another man.
“There is a reason why the use of antipersonnel landmines is illegal: they kill and maim indiscriminately and can’t distinguish between fighters and ordinary people,” said Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Director, who has been carrying out research on the Burma-Bangladesh border
“The Myanmar army is one of only a handful of state forces worldwide, along with North Korea and Syria, to still openly use antipersonnel landmines. Authorities must immediately end this abhorrent practice against people who are already fleeing persecution."
In a separate incident on 3 September, a woman in her 50s had her leg blown off from the knee down while crossing the border from Taung Pyo Let Wal.
Kalma, a relative, told Amnesty International the woman had gone to fetch water for a shower. “A few minutes later I heard a big explosion and I heard someone had stepped on a mine. It was only later I realised it was my mother-in-law.”
[/URL]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/myanmar-rohingya-muslims-land-mines-1.4283021
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/myanmar-rohingya-muslims-land-mines-1.4283021
Rohingya refugees accuse Myanmar military of planting mines along escape route
Bangladeshi officials and Amnesty researchers believe new explosives were recently planted
The Associated Press Posted: Sep 10, 2017 7:37 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 10, 2017 7:37 AM ET
Rohingya Muslim refugees wade through water after arriving by boat from Myanmar on Friday in Dakhinpara, Bangladesh. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
Related Stories
- Rohingya Muslims facing world's most enduring sentiment: bigotry
- 'Do we not belong to this planet?' Canadians call on government to act in wake of violence in Myanmar
- Halifax student helping Rohingya Muslim refugees find food and shelter
- Number of Rohingya refugees crossing into Bangladesh swells to 270,000
- Burning huts raise questions about Myanmar's version of Rohingya fleeing country
Refugee accounts of the latest spasm of violence in Rakhine have typically described shootings by soldiers and arson attacks on villages. But there are at least several cases that point to anti-personnel land mines or other explosives as the cause of injuries on the border with Bangladesh, where 300,000 Rohingya have fled in the past two weeks.
AP reporters on the Bangladesh side of the border on Monday saw an elderly woman with devastating leg wounds: one leg with the calf apparently blown off and the other also badly injured. Relatives said she had stepped on a land mine.
Myanmar has one of the few militaries, along with North Korea and Syria, that has openly used anti-personnel land mines in recent years, according to Amnesty. An international treaty in 1997 outlawed the use of the weapons.
Lt. Col S.M. Ariful Islam, commanding officer of the Bangladesh border guard in Teknaf, said on Friday he was aware of at least three Rohingya injured in explosions.
Rohingya refugees collect water on Saturday from a tube well that was installed a few days ago at new refugee camp at Cox's Bazar Ukhia area in Bangladesh. (Bernat Armangue/Associated Press)
Bangladeshi officials and Amnesty researchers believe new explosives have been recently planted, including one that the rights group said blew off a Bangladeshi farmer's leg and another that wounded a Rohingya man. Both incidents occurred Sunday. It said at least three people including two children were injured in the past week.
"It may not be land mines, but I know there have been isolated cases of Myanmar soldiers planting explosives three to four days ago," Ariful said Friday.
Myanmar Presidential spokesman Zaw Htay did not answer phone calls seeking comment Sunday. Military spokesman Myat Min Oo said he couldn't comment without talking to his superiors. A major at the Border Guard Police headquarters in northern Maungdaw near the Bangladesh border also refused to comment.
Amnesty said that based on interviews with eyewitnesses and analysis by its own weapons experts, it believes there is "targeted use of landlines" along a narrow stretch of the north-western border of Rakhine state that is a crossing point for fleeing Rohingya.
- Rohingya refugees crossing into Bangladesh swells to 270,000
- Burning huts raise questions about Myanmar's version of Rohingya fleeing country
The violence and exodus began on Aug. 25 when Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar police and paramilitary posts in what they said was an effort to protect their ethnic minority from persecution by security forces in the majority Buddhist country.
In response, the military unleashed what it called "clearance operations" to root out the insurgents. Accounts from refugees show the Myanmar military is also targeting civilians with shootings and wholesale burning of Rohingya villages in an apparent attempt to purge Rakhine state of Muslims.
Bloody anti-Muslim rioting that erupted in 2012 in Rakhine state forced more than 100,000 Rohingya into displacement camps in Bangladesh, where many still live today.
Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and persecution in Myanmar and are denied citizenship despite centuries-olds roots in the Rakhine region. Myanmar denies Rohingya exist as an ethnic group and says those living in Rakhine are illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
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