Troops on high alert after killings of Rohingya

NAYPYIDAW: Troops in Myanmar’s northeastern Rakhine state were put on high alert yesterday, police and sources said, after nearly 200 Rakhine Buddhist villagers fled the area after a recent spate of killings and amid fears of fresh attacks by Rohingya insurgents.

Rakhine Chief Minister Nyi Pu and senior state government officials have “urgently” gone to the area after receiving reports of fleeing villagers, officials said.

Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar border guard posts in October, provoking a military crackdown in which hundreds were killed, more than 1,000 houses burned down and some 75,000 Rohingya Muslims forced to flee to Bangladesh.

The United Nations has established a fact-finding mission to investigate crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the military during the counter-offensive. The administration of Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected the allegations and opposes the mission.

Fighting in Rakhine has been sporadic since the end of November, but tensions have risen over the past several weeks when village administrators were murdered and troops killed three people while clearing a Rohingya militant camp last week.

Sein Lwin and a military source operating in the area said security forces expected fresh Rohingya militant attacks on troops after Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, which ended in Myanmar on Monday.

Kyaw Win, a Rakhine ethnic villager, said nearly 200 villagers from 11 Rakhine ethnic villages had fled to the cities of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Sittwe.

Bangladesh forces near the Myanmar border were also put on high alert after reports of violence at the weekend, said Lieutenant Colonel SM Ariful Islam. Reuters