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Horrors in Rakhine haunt persecuted Rohingyas
Injured Rohingya man Muktar at hospital bed Dhaka Tribune
At least 89 people including a dozen security forces were killed as Rohingya insurgents besieged border posts in northern Rakhine State
The atrocities by Myanmar’s army during the recent crackdown are still haunting the country’s Rohingya Muslims, triggering a fresh exodus of refugees to Bangladesh.
Among the latest arrivals, one identified as Musa by his companion died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) from a gunshot wound sustained during the crackdown. The 22-year-old was from Maungdaw in Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Another injured Rohingya man, who called himself Mukhtar, on Saturday told the Dhaka Tribune that he, Musa and another trespassed into Bangladesh after a group of army men with heavy weapons swooped on their village all on a sudden on Thursday night.
“They shot dead a villager. We were injured in the gunfire,” he said.
The third Rohingya was admitted to a hospital at Ukhiya upazila in Cox’s Bazar.
“The army men were firing indiscriminately at us. We were running helter-skelter to save our lives. Only two of us managed to escape the atrocities, and two died on the spot. Initially, we took shelter in a nearby hill after fleeing our village with severe injuries. To avoid being caught by the army men, we later left the hill and crawled into another village,” the shell-shocked survivor narrated the horrors of the night, lying on a CMCH bed.
“The villagers provided us with food, water and shelter. Later, we crossed into Bangladesh with the help of agents from the two sides. Scores of Rohingya people, mostly women and children, are still agonisingly waiting to take shelter in Bangladesh,” he said.
At least 89 people including a dozen security forces were killed as Rohingya insurgents besieged border posts in northern Rakhine State, according to The Hindu.
Also Read- Fresh violence kills 89 in Myanmar’s Rakhine State
The state is bisected by religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and perceived as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Fearing further persecution, Mukhtar said he did not want to return home.
Standing beside the bullet-hit youth, Jahara Begum, who identified Mukhtar as her son-in-law, said that on information she received and whisked him off to the hospital.
“I live in a registered Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. I am worried as many of our relatives are still passing their days in utter insecurity,” added Jahara.
Contacted, CMCH Director Brig Gen Md Jalal Uddin said the two Rohingya youths were admitted to the hospital with gunshot injuries early Saturday.
“Both of them received bullet injuries two days back in Myanmar. Of the two, one by the name of Musa succumbed to his injuries at the hospital,” said Jalal.
Asked about Mukhtar’s condition, he said: “Mukhtar sustained injuries in the chest. He is showing symptoms of poor consciousness level. We will take decision about surgery after conducting some tests.
“We are hopeful of giving him proper treatment if his health condition does not deteriorate.”
The body of Musa has been kept at the hospital morgue.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2017/08/26/rohingya-man-shot-myanmar-dies-chittagong/
12:00 AM, August 27, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:00 AM, August 27, 2017
Crisis deepens
Myanmar fires on fleeing Rohingyas; refugees keep thronging border; US calls for protecting human rights as Rakhine violence toll now 92
Rohingya refugees gathered by BGB at Ghundhum of Naikkhangchhari in Bandarban last night. Over 2,000 people crossed the border into Bangladesh to flee fresh escalation of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Photo: Star
Star Report
Amid continued bloodshed in Rakhine State of Myanmar and influx of Rohingyas towards Bangladesh, Myanmar troops fired twice on fleeing people near the Bandarban border yesterday.
The first shooting took place at the no man's land of the Naf River near Toombro border under Naikhyangchhari upazila around 1:15pm, said Lt Col Manjurul Ahsan Khan, director of BGB Battalion 34.
The official said the Rohingyas had been staying on boats at the no man's land since Friday night as they were trying to cross the river to enter Bangladesh.
They could not get into the country's territory as BGB members enforced a zero tolerance policy on trespassing, he said, adding that it could not be confirmed if there was any casualty.
The second shooting occurred near Ghumdhum border of the upazila around 4:30pm, the official told The Daily Star.
An AFP reporter saw in Ghumdum civilians running for their lives as the troops opened fire. It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries.
The news agency quoted a senior BGB official saying that the troops fired on civilians, mostly women and children, hiding in the hills near the zero line. "They fired machine guns and mortar shells suddenly, targeting the civilians. They have not consulted the BGB."
As violence left at least 92 dead since early Friday and clashes continued between suspected Rohingya militants and Myanmar security forces, terrified civilians tried to flee remote villages in northern Rakhine for Bangladesh yesterday afternoon.
In the evening, over “two thousand Rohingyas” entered Bangladesh through different points of Naikhyangchhari, according to a local public representative.
Mukter Miah, a Rohingya from Myanmar, gets treated in Chittagong Medical College Hospital yesterday. He is accompanied by his relative who came to Bangladesh 15-20 years ago. Photo: Prabir Das
“Around 2,000 to 2,500 Rohingyas got into Bangladesh from Myanmar this evening [yesterday],” Md Zahangir Alam, chairman of Ghumdum Union Parishad, told our Cox's Bazar correspondent.
BGB members have cordoned them off and are keeping close watch so that they cannot proceed further into the country. Locals extended a helping hand to the refugees with food, water and other life-saving materials, he said.
Meanwhile, one of the three Rohingyas, who suffered bullet injuries while fleeing alleged police action in their village in Rakhine State, died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital yesterday. The two other Rohingyas were undergoing treatment at the CMCH.
Rakhine State has become a crucible of religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and perceived as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Residents of outlying villages fled to the main town of Maungdaw yesterday, only to be greeted with more violence there. Three village officials were killed overnight near Maungdaw, according to the office of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Meanwhile, the United States urged Myanmar authorities to avoid a response that would inflame the tensions.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in Washington that as security forces act to prevent further violence and bring the perpetrators to justice, they should respect the rule of law and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
She said the attacks underscored the importance of the government implementing recommendations of a commission chaired by former UN chief Kofi Annan, which published its final report on Thursday recommending that the government act quickly to improve economic development and social justice in Rakhine state to resolve violence between Buddhists and the Rohingya.
At least 89 people were killed as militants besieged border posts in Rakhine on Friday. The office of de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said 12 security officials had been killed alongside 77 militants -- the highest declared single-day toll since fighting broke out last year.
More than a thousand Rohingyas, including women and children, reportedly crossed the Naf River on Friday morning and got into Bangladesh through several points along the Teknaf and Ukhia borders. BGB said it sent back 146 Rohingyas hours after they entered the country.
Attacks on police posts last October sparked a wave of deadly “clearance operations” by Myanmar's army and forced some 87,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. Rights groups fear a similar crackdown may take place following Friday's attacks.
NO ROHINGYA TO BE ALLOWED
Md Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar, yesterday said the local administration has been directed to try its best to restrict the entry of fresh Rohingyas as not a single person will be allowed further in the name of “humanity”, reports UNB.
He, however, said the government is keeping humanitarian aspect of the situation in mind with due sincerity. "That doesn't mean we'll have to bear the burden for year after year by allowing the entry of people from another country."
The comments were made at an emergency meeting held at the Circuit House on Friday night attended by government officials, representatives of law enforcement agencies, politicians and others.
The meeting has decided to take stern action against those who will help Rohingyas enter Bangladesh.
Bangladesh shares with Myanmar a 272km border that falls in Bandarban and Cox's Bazar. Of this, a 52km stretch is in the Naf River.
The country has been hosting up to 5,00,000 Rohingyas for three decades. More than 32,000 of them are registered and live in two camps in Cox's Bazar. Others live in different areas of Cox's Bazar and Chittagong.
After Myanmar armed forces launched a counterinsurgency operation following attacks on security personnel in Rakhine State in October last year, more than 75,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh.
THE DEATH AT CMCH
The Rohingya who died was identified as Mohammad Musa, 23, son of Mohammad Ismail, from Mehendi village under Jeddina Police Station of Maungdaw, said police.
Of the injured, Mohammad Mukter Miah, 27, hailing from the same village, was undergoing treatment at the surgery ward of the CMCH, said Jahirul Islam, in-charge of CMCH Police Camp.
Another injured, 10-year-old Md Idris, was admitted to Neurosurgery ward.
Police said Musa and Mukter were injured in police firing as they went to “attack police camps” in Myanmar, but the injured claimed that they were “innocent” and that sustained bullet injuries while trying to flee police attack in their village.
"Some people brought Musa and Mukter to the CMCH around 3:00am [yesterday],” said Jahirul, adding that Musa suffered bullet injuries in the abdomen, Mukter in left shoulder and Idris in the head.
Idris was brought by a woman around 5:00am, he said.
Mahadi Hasan Manju, a medical officer of surgery ward, said Musa died around 9:45am.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/crisis-deepens-1454569
Myanmar forces 'fire on fleeing Rohingya'
AFP . Cox’s Bazar | Update: 23:04, Aug 26, 2017
Myanmar security forces fired mortars and machine guns at terrified Rohingya villagers fleeing northern Rakhine state for Bangladesh on Saturday, according to an AFP reporter and a border official at the scene, as clashes which have killed scores continued for a second day.
The fighting, concentrated around remote border villages, is between suspected Rohingya militants and Myanmar security forces, but is increasingly sweeping in civilians—from the Muslim minority as well as local Buddhists and Hindus.
Rakhine state has become a crucible of religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and perceived as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Violence has left at least 92 dead since Friday, according to an official toll, and forced thousands of Rohingya to flee towards Bangladesh.
But authorities there have refused to let most of them in, with thousands of people, mainly women and children, stranded along the “zero line” border zone.
On Saturday an AFP reporter at Bangladesh’s Ghumdhum border post counted over a dozen mortar shells and countless machine gun rounds fired by Myanmar security forces in nearby hills onto a large group of Rohingya desperately trying to cross.
It was not immediately clear if any were hit, but civilians scattered to evade the barrage.
“They have fired on civilians, mostly women and children, hiding in the hills near the zero line,” Border Guard Bangladesh’s (BGB) station chief Manzurul Hassan Khan confirmed.
“They fired machine guns and mortar shells suddenly, targeting the civilians. They have not consulted with the BGB,” he added.
Unwanted by Myanmar, the Rohingya are unwelcome in Bangladesh, which already hosts tens of thousands of refugees from the Muslim minority who live in squalid conditions in the Cox’s Bazar area.
In desperate scenes, many of the Rohingya displaced on Friday have been left without shelter in no-man’s land between the two countries, or forced to return to villages enveloped by clashes between militants and security forces.
Hundreds did make it across the porous border early Saturday when border patrols were relaxed due to heavy rains, an AFP reporter witnessed, with some swimming across the Naf river which separates the two countries.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry summoned Myanmar’s charge d’affaires and expressed “serious concern” at the possibility of a large-scale influx of Rohingyas following the latest violence.
‘No security’
The current flare-up came after a Myanmar government-commissioned report led by former UN chief Kofi Annan into the roots of the Rakhine troubles.
It urged Myanmar’s government to swiftly find a pathway to citizenship for the roughly one million-strong Rohingya minority and ease suffocating restrictions on work and travel.
Violence erupted early on Friday as scores of men purportedly from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), ambushed Myanmar police posts.
Using knives, some guns and homemade explosives they killed at least a dozen security forces.
The fightback has seen at least 77 Rohingya militants killed, according to the office of Myanmar’s de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi—the highest declared single day toll since ARSA emerged as a force last year.
The group says it is fighting to protect the Rohingya from abuses by Myanmar security forces and the majority-Buddhist Rakhine community who they accuse of trying to push them out.
Attacks on police posts last October sparked a wave of deadly “clearance operations” by Myanmar’s army and forced some 87,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
The UN believes that military crackdown may have amounted to ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.
The army denies the allegations, which included civilian killings and mass rape.
On Saturday residents of outlying villages fled to the town of Maungdaw, only to be greeted with more violence there.
Ethnic Rakhine Buddhists armed themselves with knives and sticks as tension soared in a town that has repeatedly been the epicentre of religious violence since 2012.
With panic spreading, scores of Hindu villagers also fled to Maungdaw after rumours that they too were a target for the militants.
“There is no security in the villages,” Buthon, a Hindu man in Maungdaw told AFP.
The government has declared ARSA a terrorist organisation.
http://en.prothom-alo.com/international/news/157635/Myanmar-forces-fire-on-fleeing-Rohingya
- Anwar Hussain, Chittagong
- Published at 12:56 PM August 26, 2017
- Last updated at 01:27 AM August 27, 2017
Injured Rohingya man Muktar at hospital bed Dhaka Tribune
At least 89 people including a dozen security forces were killed as Rohingya insurgents besieged border posts in northern Rakhine State
The atrocities by Myanmar’s army during the recent crackdown are still haunting the country’s Rohingya Muslims, triggering a fresh exodus of refugees to Bangladesh.
Among the latest arrivals, one identified as Musa by his companion died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) from a gunshot wound sustained during the crackdown. The 22-year-old was from Maungdaw in Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Another injured Rohingya man, who called himself Mukhtar, on Saturday told the Dhaka Tribune that he, Musa and another trespassed into Bangladesh after a group of army men with heavy weapons swooped on their village all on a sudden on Thursday night.
“They shot dead a villager. We were injured in the gunfire,” he said.
The third Rohingya was admitted to a hospital at Ukhiya upazila in Cox’s Bazar.
“The army men were firing indiscriminately at us. We were running helter-skelter to save our lives. Only two of us managed to escape the atrocities, and two died on the spot. Initially, we took shelter in a nearby hill after fleeing our village with severe injuries. To avoid being caught by the army men, we later left the hill and crawled into another village,” the shell-shocked survivor narrated the horrors of the night, lying on a CMCH bed.
“The villagers provided us with food, water and shelter. Later, we crossed into Bangladesh with the help of agents from the two sides. Scores of Rohingya people, mostly women and children, are still agonisingly waiting to take shelter in Bangladesh,” he said.
At least 89 people including a dozen security forces were killed as Rohingya insurgents besieged border posts in northern Rakhine State, according to The Hindu.
Also Read- Fresh violence kills 89 in Myanmar’s Rakhine State
The state is bisected by religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and perceived as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Fearing further persecution, Mukhtar said he did not want to return home.
Standing beside the bullet-hit youth, Jahara Begum, who identified Mukhtar as her son-in-law, said that on information she received and whisked him off to the hospital.
“I live in a registered Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. I am worried as many of our relatives are still passing their days in utter insecurity,” added Jahara.
Contacted, CMCH Director Brig Gen Md Jalal Uddin said the two Rohingya youths were admitted to the hospital with gunshot injuries early Saturday.
“Both of them received bullet injuries two days back in Myanmar. Of the two, one by the name of Musa succumbed to his injuries at the hospital,” said Jalal.
Asked about Mukhtar’s condition, he said: “Mukhtar sustained injuries in the chest. He is showing symptoms of poor consciousness level. We will take decision about surgery after conducting some tests.
“We are hopeful of giving him proper treatment if his health condition does not deteriorate.”
The body of Musa has been kept at the hospital morgue.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2017/08/26/rohingya-man-shot-myanmar-dies-chittagong/
12:00 AM, August 27, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:00 AM, August 27, 2017
Crisis deepens
Myanmar fires on fleeing Rohingyas; refugees keep thronging border; US calls for protecting human rights as Rakhine violence toll now 92
Rohingya refugees gathered by BGB at Ghundhum of Naikkhangchhari in Bandarban last night. Over 2,000 people crossed the border into Bangladesh to flee fresh escalation of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Photo: Star
Star Report
Amid continued bloodshed in Rakhine State of Myanmar and influx of Rohingyas towards Bangladesh, Myanmar troops fired twice on fleeing people near the Bandarban border yesterday.
The first shooting took place at the no man's land of the Naf River near Toombro border under Naikhyangchhari upazila around 1:15pm, said Lt Col Manjurul Ahsan Khan, director of BGB Battalion 34.
The official said the Rohingyas had been staying on boats at the no man's land since Friday night as they were trying to cross the river to enter Bangladesh.
They could not get into the country's territory as BGB members enforced a zero tolerance policy on trespassing, he said, adding that it could not be confirmed if there was any casualty.
The second shooting occurred near Ghumdhum border of the upazila around 4:30pm, the official told The Daily Star.
An AFP reporter saw in Ghumdum civilians running for their lives as the troops opened fire. It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries.
The news agency quoted a senior BGB official saying that the troops fired on civilians, mostly women and children, hiding in the hills near the zero line. "They fired machine guns and mortar shells suddenly, targeting the civilians. They have not consulted the BGB."
As violence left at least 92 dead since early Friday and clashes continued between suspected Rohingya militants and Myanmar security forces, terrified civilians tried to flee remote villages in northern Rakhine for Bangladesh yesterday afternoon.
In the evening, over “two thousand Rohingyas” entered Bangladesh through different points of Naikhyangchhari, according to a local public representative.
Mukter Miah, a Rohingya from Myanmar, gets treated in Chittagong Medical College Hospital yesterday. He is accompanied by his relative who came to Bangladesh 15-20 years ago. Photo: Prabir Das
“Around 2,000 to 2,500 Rohingyas got into Bangladesh from Myanmar this evening [yesterday],” Md Zahangir Alam, chairman of Ghumdum Union Parishad, told our Cox's Bazar correspondent.
BGB members have cordoned them off and are keeping close watch so that they cannot proceed further into the country. Locals extended a helping hand to the refugees with food, water and other life-saving materials, he said.
Meanwhile, one of the three Rohingyas, who suffered bullet injuries while fleeing alleged police action in their village in Rakhine State, died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital yesterday. The two other Rohingyas were undergoing treatment at the CMCH.
Rakhine State has become a crucible of religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and perceived as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Residents of outlying villages fled to the main town of Maungdaw yesterday, only to be greeted with more violence there. Three village officials were killed overnight near Maungdaw, according to the office of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Meanwhile, the United States urged Myanmar authorities to avoid a response that would inflame the tensions.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in Washington that as security forces act to prevent further violence and bring the perpetrators to justice, they should respect the rule of law and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
She said the attacks underscored the importance of the government implementing recommendations of a commission chaired by former UN chief Kofi Annan, which published its final report on Thursday recommending that the government act quickly to improve economic development and social justice in Rakhine state to resolve violence between Buddhists and the Rohingya.
At least 89 people were killed as militants besieged border posts in Rakhine on Friday. The office of de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said 12 security officials had been killed alongside 77 militants -- the highest declared single-day toll since fighting broke out last year.
More than a thousand Rohingyas, including women and children, reportedly crossed the Naf River on Friday morning and got into Bangladesh through several points along the Teknaf and Ukhia borders. BGB said it sent back 146 Rohingyas hours after they entered the country.
Attacks on police posts last October sparked a wave of deadly “clearance operations” by Myanmar's army and forced some 87,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. Rights groups fear a similar crackdown may take place following Friday's attacks.
NO ROHINGYA TO BE ALLOWED
Md Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar, yesterday said the local administration has been directed to try its best to restrict the entry of fresh Rohingyas as not a single person will be allowed further in the name of “humanity”, reports UNB.
He, however, said the government is keeping humanitarian aspect of the situation in mind with due sincerity. "That doesn't mean we'll have to bear the burden for year after year by allowing the entry of people from another country."
The comments were made at an emergency meeting held at the Circuit House on Friday night attended by government officials, representatives of law enforcement agencies, politicians and others.
The meeting has decided to take stern action against those who will help Rohingyas enter Bangladesh.
Bangladesh shares with Myanmar a 272km border that falls in Bandarban and Cox's Bazar. Of this, a 52km stretch is in the Naf River.
The country has been hosting up to 5,00,000 Rohingyas for three decades. More than 32,000 of them are registered and live in two camps in Cox's Bazar. Others live in different areas of Cox's Bazar and Chittagong.
After Myanmar armed forces launched a counterinsurgency operation following attacks on security personnel in Rakhine State in October last year, more than 75,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh.
THE DEATH AT CMCH
The Rohingya who died was identified as Mohammad Musa, 23, son of Mohammad Ismail, from Mehendi village under Jeddina Police Station of Maungdaw, said police.
Of the injured, Mohammad Mukter Miah, 27, hailing from the same village, was undergoing treatment at the surgery ward of the CMCH, said Jahirul Islam, in-charge of CMCH Police Camp.
Another injured, 10-year-old Md Idris, was admitted to Neurosurgery ward.
Police said Musa and Mukter were injured in police firing as they went to “attack police camps” in Myanmar, but the injured claimed that they were “innocent” and that sustained bullet injuries while trying to flee police attack in their village.
"Some people brought Musa and Mukter to the CMCH around 3:00am [yesterday],” said Jahirul, adding that Musa suffered bullet injuries in the abdomen, Mukter in left shoulder and Idris in the head.
Idris was brought by a woman around 5:00am, he said.
Mahadi Hasan Manju, a medical officer of surgery ward, said Musa died around 9:45am.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/crisis-deepens-1454569
Myanmar forces 'fire on fleeing Rohingya'
AFP . Cox’s Bazar | Update: 23:04, Aug 26, 2017
Myanmar security forces fired mortars and machine guns at terrified Rohingya villagers fleeing northern Rakhine state for Bangladesh on Saturday, according to an AFP reporter and a border official at the scene, as clashes which have killed scores continued for a second day.
The fighting, concentrated around remote border villages, is between suspected Rohingya militants and Myanmar security forces, but is increasingly sweeping in civilians—from the Muslim minority as well as local Buddhists and Hindus.
Rakhine state has become a crucible of religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and perceived as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Violence has left at least 92 dead since Friday, according to an official toll, and forced thousands of Rohingya to flee towards Bangladesh.
But authorities there have refused to let most of them in, with thousands of people, mainly women and children, stranded along the “zero line” border zone.
On Saturday an AFP reporter at Bangladesh’s Ghumdhum border post counted over a dozen mortar shells and countless machine gun rounds fired by Myanmar security forces in nearby hills onto a large group of Rohingya desperately trying to cross.
It was not immediately clear if any were hit, but civilians scattered to evade the barrage.
“They have fired on civilians, mostly women and children, hiding in the hills near the zero line,” Border Guard Bangladesh’s (BGB) station chief Manzurul Hassan Khan confirmed.
“They fired machine guns and mortar shells suddenly, targeting the civilians. They have not consulted with the BGB,” he added.
Unwanted by Myanmar, the Rohingya are unwelcome in Bangladesh, which already hosts tens of thousands of refugees from the Muslim minority who live in squalid conditions in the Cox’s Bazar area.
In desperate scenes, many of the Rohingya displaced on Friday have been left without shelter in no-man’s land between the two countries, or forced to return to villages enveloped by clashes between militants and security forces.
Hundreds did make it across the porous border early Saturday when border patrols were relaxed due to heavy rains, an AFP reporter witnessed, with some swimming across the Naf river which separates the two countries.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry summoned Myanmar’s charge d’affaires and expressed “serious concern” at the possibility of a large-scale influx of Rohingyas following the latest violence.
‘No security’
The current flare-up came after a Myanmar government-commissioned report led by former UN chief Kofi Annan into the roots of the Rakhine troubles.
It urged Myanmar’s government to swiftly find a pathway to citizenship for the roughly one million-strong Rohingya minority and ease suffocating restrictions on work and travel.
Violence erupted early on Friday as scores of men purportedly from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), ambushed Myanmar police posts.
Using knives, some guns and homemade explosives they killed at least a dozen security forces.
The fightback has seen at least 77 Rohingya militants killed, according to the office of Myanmar’s de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi—the highest declared single day toll since ARSA emerged as a force last year.
The group says it is fighting to protect the Rohingya from abuses by Myanmar security forces and the majority-Buddhist Rakhine community who they accuse of trying to push them out.
Attacks on police posts last October sparked a wave of deadly “clearance operations” by Myanmar’s army and forced some 87,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
The UN believes that military crackdown may have amounted to ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.
The army denies the allegations, which included civilian killings and mass rape.
On Saturday residents of outlying villages fled to the town of Maungdaw, only to be greeted with more violence there.
Ethnic Rakhine Buddhists armed themselves with knives and sticks as tension soared in a town that has repeatedly been the epicentre of religious violence since 2012.
With panic spreading, scores of Hindu villagers also fled to Maungdaw after rumours that they too were a target for the militants.
“There is no security in the villages,” Buthon, a Hindu man in Maungdaw told AFP.
The government has declared ARSA a terrorist organisation.
http://en.prothom-alo.com/international/news/157635/Myanmar-forces-fire-on-fleeing-Rohingya
