Amnesty International said that a new investigation had confirmed the militants killed 53 Hindus “execution-style”-- mostly children -- in the Kha Maung Seik village cluster in northern Maungdaw.
In a startling confirmation Amnesty International said on Tuesday that Rohingya militants had carried out mass massacres of Hindus in Myanmar. Amnesty said that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) killed up to 99 Hindu women, men, and children in at least one or two massacres.
In mid-2017, ARSA fighters engaged in "scores of clashes with security forces," according to Amnesty. At the same time, ARSA committed "serious human rights abuses...including unlawful killings and abductions," the human rights group said.
"It's hard to ignore the sheer brutality of ARSA's actions, which have left an indelible impression on the survivors we've spoken to," said Tirana Hassan, Crisis Response Director at Amnesty International.
On August 25, 2017, ARSA militants attacked a Hindu village in northern Maungdaw Township, and rounded up some 69 men, women and children, the majority of whom were killed, "execution-style," according to survivors who spoke to Amnesty.
The same day, 46 members of a Hindu community in a nearby village disappeared. As many 99 people could have been killed, Amnesty claims.
“Our latest investigation on the ground sheds much-needed light on the largely under-reported human rights abuses by ARSA during northern Rakhine state’s unspeakably dark recent history,” said Tirana Hassan, crisis response director at Amnesty International.
“Accountability for these atrocities is every bit as crucial as it is for the crimes against humanity carried out by Myanmar’s security forces in northern Rakhine state,” she added.
Citing interviews with eight survivors, the rights group said dozens were rounded up, blindfolded and marched out of town by masked men and Rohingya villagers in plain clothes.
“They slaughtered the men. We were told not to look at them... They had knives. They also had some spades and iron rods,” 18-year-old Raj Kumari told Amnesty.
He said he hid in the bush and watched as his father, brother and uncle were killed.
The report said that in a separate village nearby called Ye Bauk Kyar, 46 Hindu men, women and children disappeared on the same day. It cited information from local Hindus who believe they were killed by ARSA.
Myanmar's government welcomed Amnesty's findings. Spokesman Zaw Htay said the government had "credible evidence of more terrorist attacks by ARSA," adding that the international community had "ignored" ARSA's activities.
He added that ARSA is "a terrorist organization" and "initiators of the conflict in Rahkine"
While Rakhine was home mainly to Buddhists and Muslims before the crisis, it also boasts a small but longstanding Hindu minority -- many of whom were brought in by British colonisers looking for cheap labour -- as well as several other smaller ethnic groups.
