Junta terrorises villages near Rakhine State capital, killing four men and arresting dozens more

Junta forces shot and killed four civilians in raids around Sittwe, Rakhine State, on Wednesday afternoon, arresting several others and destroying more than 100 residences, according to local sources. The attacks targeted the large villages of Shwe Min Gan and Byine Phyu, located north of the capital city. Both communities have more than 1,000 households. A junta unit of more than 100 troops carried out the raids, according to local Rakhine news reports. They arrested some 40 people during home searches, including both adults and children. A local man assisting residents who fled the assault said that the four slain men were from Byine Phyu, and said that the military was pitting people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds against one another. “They took the people from Byine Phyu outside the village and made them sit in a line beside the pool of drinking water. Then, they paid the Muslim people from Than Daw Li village to destroy the houses in Byine Phyu and Shwe Min Gan,” the local man explained, referring to residences that belonged to Rakhine Buddhists. He added that the Myanmar army troops behind the act were accompanied by members of the police and the Sittwe city development committee, as well as various junta departmental staff. The villagers, he said, were “regular civilians,” many of whom were elderly, as the area’s youth had already fled. Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify his account. The military has been carrying out widespread arrests of Rakhine civilians, accusing them of being affiliated with the Arakha Army (AA)—previously known as the Arakan Army—with which it has been engaged in intensifying battles for territory and influence over the past six months, as well as in previous years. The AA has recently seized control of several Rakhine State townships: Myebon, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Ramree, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, and Buthidaung, and continues to attack military sites in the southern townships of Ann and Thandwe. More fighting is also anticipated around Kyaukphyu and Sittwe. In its fight against the AA, the junta has forcibly conscripted Rohingya Muslim men into its forces, after years of waging scorched earth military campaigns against the Rohingya population, to which it also denies citizenship.

Junta terrorises villages near Rakhine State capital, killing four men and arresting dozens more

Myanmar army troops accompanied by police and junta departmental staff reportedly oversaw the burning of houses, locals say

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