Rakhine state is on fire, says Amnesty researcher

BANGKOK: Amnesty International on Friday released fresh satellite images of burned villages in Rakhine state, alleging Myanmar’s security forces have led “systematic” clearances of Rohingya Muslim settlements over the last three weeks.

At least 26 villages had been hit by arson attacks in the Rohingyamajority region, the rights group said, with patches of grey ash picked up in photos marking the spot where homes had once stood.

Backing up the pictures, Amnesty said fire sensors also deployed on satellites had detected 80 largescale blazes across northern Rakhine state since Aug. 25, when the army launched “clearance operations” in response to attacks by Rohingya militants.

“Rakhine state is on fire,” said Olof Blomqvist, a researcher with Amnesty International, in a “clear campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Myanmar security forces.”

The group quoted Rohingya witnesses who described security officers and vigilantes using petrol or shoulder-fired rocket launchers to set homes alight, before firing on villagers as they fled.

In some ethnically mixed communities, such as the village tract of Inn Dinn, images showed that only Rohingya homes had been burned, the report said.

“It’s very difficult to conclude that it is anything other than a deliberate effort by the Myanmar military to drive Rohingya out of their own country by any means necessary,” Blomqvist added.

Myanmar denies targeting Rohingya, instead insisting the militants have set the fires.

But scores of Rohingya refugees have detailed raids by soldiers who fired on civilians before razing entire communities — often with the help of ethnic Rakhine Buddhist mobs.

“There is a clear and systematic pattern of abuse here. Security forces surround a village, shoot people fleeing in panic and then torch houses to the ground,” said Tirana Hassan, Amnesty’s crisis response director.