‘THERE IS NO ONE LEFT’

Villagers relate how they were forced out of their village

KUTAPALONG

VILLAGERS said the soldiers came first, firing indiscriminately. Then, came civilians, accompanying the soldiers, to loot and burn.

In Bangladesh, 20 Muslims and Hindus gave interviews in which they recounted how they were forced out of their village, Kha Maung Seik, in Rakhine State, Myanmar, on Aug 25.

“The military brought Rakhine Buddhists with them and torched the village,” said Kadil Hussein, 55.

“All the Muslims in our village, about 10,000, fled. Some were shot dead, the rest came here. There is not a single person left.”

Hussein is staying with hundreds of other new arrivals at the refugee settlement here, already home to thousands of Rohingya who fled earlier.

Nearly 150,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since Aug 25, when Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army insurgents launched attacks on security forces in the Rakhine area.

Myanmar said its forces were in a fight against “terrorists”.

State media accused Rohingya militants of burning villages and killing civilians of all religions.

Refugees from Kha Maung Seik and other villages across Rakhine State said Myanmar forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists were intent on forcing them out.

Refugee Body Alom, 28, said he hid in a forest with thousands of others when the soldiers arrived, waiting for hours before emerging to look for his family.

He saw corpses in padi fields, and found his mother and brother dead with gunshot wounds.

A military official, who declined to be identified, denied that Buddhist civilians were working with authorities, and instead accused Muslims of attacking other communities.

Kha Maung Seik was home to a mixed community, with Rohingya Muslims in the majority along with about 6,000 Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and others.

Kha Maung Seik villagers said they heard shooting at 2am on Aug 25. A military source in Maungdaw and two residents said militants attacked a police post near the village that night.

Myanmar’s Hindu community have been caught in the middle. The military source said some Hindus from the village were unaccounted after the militant attack.

Hindu women refugees here said they saw eight Hindu men killed by Buddhist Rakhines after they refused to attack Muslims.

“They asked my husband to join them to kill Rohingya, but he refused, so they killed him,” said Anika Bala. Six months’ pregnant, she said Muslims helped her get to Bangladesh. Reuters