Agencia EFE :
At least 34 people were killed in western Myanmar during army raids in villages of the Rohingya Muslim minority, following an armed assault a month ago on border police posts, the state press reported on Monday.
The incidents broke out near the town of Maungdaw in northern Rakhine state, on the border with Bangladesh, the area where a large number of this persecuted minority group lives and has been surrounded by the army since the Oct. 9 attacks.
According to the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, six people were killed on Saturday when soldiers opened fire in response to an attack by the men armed with machetes in Gwason village.
In addition, 19 out of 20 assailants armed with wooden clubs and machetes were killed on Sunday in another ambush in Dargyizartaung village, according to the same newspaper.
Authorities accuse these groups of burning dozens of houses in Rohingya villages in order to “cause misunderstanding and tension between the government forces and the people,” the newspaper added.
In a Facebook post yesterday, U Zaw Htay, Myanmar’s Presidential office spokesperson, paints a more detailed picture of the violence, saying that early yesterday morning, in the first of four incidents, 60 attackers armed with guns, knives and spears ambushed government troops in Mayintaung Village, killing one soldier.
The soldiers returned fire and in two more operations pursuing attackers, 36 suspected assailants were arrested, with six bodies of suspects found; and 500 men fired on soldiers as
they approached Gwason Village, where the military dispatched two attack helicopters, and one officer died. The spokesperson also said that attackers from Pwintphyuchaung Village set fire to the village as they withdrew following the army’s retaliation.
In the fourth incident, 38 armed attackers confronted border guards and government personnel near Maunghnama Village but were repelled by the guards, leaving one vehicle damaged but causing no casualties.
Activists and human rights groups, on the other hand, accuse the army of carrying out executions, rapes and looting against the Rohingya people. On Sunday, Human Rights Watch reported with satellite images that at least 430 houses were destroyed by sectarian violence against this minority between Oct. 22 and Nov. 10.
HRW called for the United Nations to conduct fact-finding missions into the Myanmar government, which is led by de facto leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused of not interceding in favor of the Rohingya.
Myanmar authorities have rejected allegations they have been involved in abuses against the Rohingya minority in this part of the country, where the army prohibits humanitarian aid organizations, observers and independent press from entering.
More than 1 million Rohingyas live in Rakhine state and have lived in Myanmar for centuries; however, they are not recognized as Burmese citizens, but as Bengali immigrants.
About 120,000 of them live in 67 camps in that state, and have suffered various restrictions since the outbreak of sectarian violence in 2012 that caused at least 160 deaths.
At least 34 people were killed in western Myanmar during army raids in villages of the Rohingya Muslim minority, following an armed assault a month ago on border police posts, the state press reported on Monday.
The incidents broke out near the town of Maungdaw in northern Rakhine state, on the border with Bangladesh, the area where a large number of this persecuted minority group lives and has been surrounded by the army since the Oct. 9 attacks.
According to the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, six people were killed on Saturday when soldiers opened fire in response to an attack by the men armed with machetes in Gwason village.
In addition, 19 out of 20 assailants armed with wooden clubs and machetes were killed on Sunday in another ambush in Dargyizartaung village, according to the same newspaper.
Authorities accuse these groups of burning dozens of houses in Rohingya villages in order to “cause misunderstanding and tension between the government forces and the people,” the newspaper added.
In a Facebook post yesterday, U Zaw Htay, Myanmar’s Presidential office spokesperson, paints a more detailed picture of the violence, saying that early yesterday morning, in the first of four incidents, 60 attackers armed with guns, knives and spears ambushed government troops in Mayintaung Village, killing one soldier.
The soldiers returned fire and in two more operations pursuing attackers, 36 suspected assailants were arrested, with six bodies of suspects found; and 500 men fired on soldiers as
they approached Gwason Village, where the military dispatched two attack helicopters, and one officer died. The spokesperson also said that attackers from Pwintphyuchaung Village set fire to the village as they withdrew following the army’s retaliation.
In the fourth incident, 38 armed attackers confronted border guards and government personnel near Maunghnama Village but were repelled by the guards, leaving one vehicle damaged but causing no casualties.
Activists and human rights groups, on the other hand, accuse the army of carrying out executions, rapes and looting against the Rohingya people. On Sunday, Human Rights Watch reported with satellite images that at least 430 houses were destroyed by sectarian violence against this minority between Oct. 22 and Nov. 10.
HRW called for the United Nations to conduct fact-finding missions into the Myanmar government, which is led by de facto leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused of not interceding in favor of the Rohingya.
Myanmar authorities have rejected allegations they have been involved in abuses against the Rohingya minority in this part of the country, where the army prohibits humanitarian aid organizations, observers and independent press from entering.
More than 1 million Rohingyas live in Rakhine state and have lived in Myanmar for centuries; however, they are not recognized as Burmese citizens, but as Bengali immigrants.
About 120,000 of them live in 67 camps in that state, and have suffered various restrictions since the outbreak of sectarian violence in 2012 that caused at least 160 deaths.
