Arakan News Agency
Myanmar‘s army said on Monday that security forces have discovered a mass grave on the edge of a village in Arakan State, and have launched an investigation.
A violent crackdown by the security forces in response to attacks by militants in the state has caused around 650,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh in recent months.
In a statement posted on the Facebook page of the military’s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the army said the unidentified bodies had been found at the cemetery in the village of Inn Din, about 30 miles north of state capital Sittwe. It did not say how many bodies were uncovered.
“A preliminary investigation was done by the security forces following a report, by someone who asked not to be named, of people being killed and buried,” the army said.
“As a result of the investigations, unidentified bodies were found at the Inn Din village cemetery and a detailed investigation is being conducted to get to the truth,” according to the statement on Facebook, which the army often uses to make announcements.
When contacted by Reuters, military spokesman Colonel Myat Min Oo declined to give further details.
The village is in Maungdaw township, one of the areas worst affected by the violence that has prompted the United Nations’ top human rights official to allege that Myanmar‘s security forces may have committed genocide against the Rohingya.
Myanmar‘s armed forces launched what they termed clearance operations in northern Arakan, where many of the stateless Muslim minority lived, after Rohingya militants attacked 30 police posts and an army base on Aug. 25.
Rohingya activists says these bodies belong to 10 Rohingya men went missing without any trace after detained by authorities from very same area, in the midst of the chaos caused by Army since 25th Aug.
1. Molvi Malik S/O Mohammad aged 35 years old
2. Abul Hashim KamarUddin aged 30 years old
3. Abdullah Abul Kalam aged 20 years old
4. Hafiz Ullah Noor Mohammad aged 28 years old
5. Rasheed Abdu Shakoor aged 20 years old
6. Abdul Majid Mohammad aged 45 years old
7. Bango Aman Ullah aged 25 years old
8.Dil Mohammad S/O Yousuf aged 20 years old
9. Buttiya aka Abdu Rahman aged 45 years old
10. Rafique Mohammad Ramu aged 25 years old
Names of the victims were collected through Rohingya eye witnesses inside refugee camps in Bangladesh via their testimonies.
Rights monitors have accused troops of atrocities, including killings, mass rape and arson during those operations. The United States has said it amounted to “ethnic cleansing”.
The Myanmar military has said its own internal investigation had exonerated security forces of all accusations of atrocities.
Myanmar‘s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has faced fierce international criticism for failing to do more to protect the Rohingya.
The civilian government, which has no control over the military, has said the army was engaged in legitimate counter-insurgency operations. It has promised to investigate allegations of abuses in Arakan if it is given evidence.
