Rohingya insurgents killed nearly 100 Hindu civilians in western Myanmar in August, rights organisation Amnesty International has found. In a report on Tuesday, Amnesty said an armed group killed up to 99 Hindus, including children, in one, or possibly two, massacres.
The alleged attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army had prompted military action in northern Rakhine state, forcing almost 7 lakh Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh in subsequent weeks. The United Nations has used the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe the military action against the community, which included widespread rapes, arson and massacres.
Masked fighters of the Rohingya outfit killed Hindus near Kha Maung Seik village, Amnesty International found. The report cites witnesses including eight Hindu women who alleged they were abducted by ARSA fighters and forced to convert to Islam.
The militant group had denied allegations of massacre of Hindus in September 2017.
“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,” Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s crisis response director, said in a statement. “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.”
Amnesty International has called for Myanmar to grant UN investigators access to the conflict area to look into the alleged atrocities by both the Rohingya insurgent and the Army.
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