Men killed during two-day clearance operation near border
with Bangladesh, according to Office of State Counselor
 |
| File Photo of Rohingya IDP camp |
By Kyaw Ye Lynn
YANGON, Myanmar
Security forces have killed three Rohingya men during a
raid on "terrorist training camps" in western Rakhine state, state
media reported Thursday.
Global New Light of Myanmar daily said soldiers and
police discovered evidence over the past two days of a tunnel in the Mayu
Mountains being allegedly used by Rohingya militants in the Maungdaw area near
Myanmar's western border with Bangladesh.
One man was killed on Tuesday, while the other two were
killed on Wednesday during a two-day area clearance operation, the daily said,
citing a statement from the Office of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.
Also on Tuesday, security forces raided the village of
Kyungaung at around 1 a.m (1830GMT Monday), and arrested Mawlawi Jirabhuman, in
charge of finance of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), at his residence,
the statement said, adding an investigation was underway.
According to Jirabhuman, the October 2016 attacks on
three police stations on the border with Bangladesh, which left nine officers
dead, were carried out by Aqua Mul Mujahidin (AMM), the daily said, adding back
on March 15, Aqua Mul Mujahidan united with Rohingya National Security
Committee (RNSA) to form ARSA.
The government accuses the militant group of murdering 34
civilians and kidnapping 22 others, mostly Rohingya civilians, who collaborated
with local authority since October attacks.
ARSA has refuted accusations that it conducts killings or
any forms of terrorism against the civilians.
In a statement on May 30 -- the second such announcement
since it was formed last October -- the group said it had never attacked or
killed any civilians as it was claimed in numerous "false news
stories" as well as information circulated by Myanmar government and
military.
"We do not commit any form of terrorism against any
civilians regardless of their religious and ethnic origin as we do not
subscribe to the notion of committing terrorism for our legitimate cause,"
the group said.
The statement, which bore the group’s crossed Armalite
rifle logo and signed by its leader Ata Ullah, was disseminated through several
Rohingya activists, but Anadolu Agency was unable to verify the origin of the
statement.
"We assure the safety and well-being of all ethnic
communities, their places of worship and properties in Arakan state," it
said, referring to one of Myanmar's poorest states which is also called
Rakhine.
The state is home to approximately 1.2 million Rohingya,
who have long been officially labeled as "Bengali" -- a term
suggesting they are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh -- and
denied citizenship.
The government has labelled ARSA a terrorist organization
and said Ullah was trained by the Taliban and has links to foreign terror
groups.
ARSA, however, denied any ties to terror group, adding
its defensive attacks had "only been aimed at the oppressive Burmese
regime in accordance with international norms and principles until their
demands are fulfilled".
The group claimed responsibility for the killing of the
nine police officers last October which prompted a brutal crackdown by
government security forces on civilians in the area near the border with
Bangladesh.
During the crackdown, the United Nations and rights
groups documented widespread abuses by security forces such as killings --
including the deaths of children and babies -- gang rapes, brutal beatings, the
burning of villages and disappearances.
Source: http://v.aa.com.tr/846985
A new statement
issued from State Counselor’s Office Information Committee is here below in
Burmese: https://www.facebook.com/MyanmarSCOInfoCom/posts/750968381742937
But local villagers
denied and said, we are
eye-witnesses, these all are newly fabrications as usual and the assailants are
also Rakhine Buddhist.
State Counselor’s
Office Information Committee issued the report in English here: https://www.facebook.com/MyanmarSCOInfoCom/posts/751344468371995