Tatmadaw says 14 arrested in Mrauk-U Township after convoy attacked

By Khaing Roe La 04 Mar 2020

Khaing Roe La/ DMG
March 4, Mrauk-U

Fourteen male suspects have been arrested after fighting occurred near Myaung Bway village in Mrauk-U Township, Arakan State, according to a March 3 statement issued by the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services.

The statement said security forces fought back against Arakan Army (AA) troops as the AA ambushed a Tatmadaw convoy after carrying out remote mine attacks on the group of more than a dozen vehicles at a location about 1,500 meters west of Myaung Bway village on February 29.

During the attacks, some military officers and soldiers of other ranks were injured and two vehicles were damaged, the statement said. It added that the Tatmadaw seized the bodies of two AA members and arrested 14 men including Tun Tun Win, son of U Sein Tun Aung, near the site of the hostilities.

According to preliminary interrogations, some of the arrested people had reported to the AA the activities of military columns and vehicles along the Minbya–Mrauk-U–Kyauktaw road, and were involved in attacks on Tatmadaw forces, the statement said.

Nine locals from Bu Ta Lone, A Myout Taung, Lat Than Chay, Kywal Tel and Shwe Hlan villages were killed and 18 others were injured due to the fighting near Myaung Bway village, according to a statement issued by the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC).

Locals said the Tatmadaw arrested a total of 13 people — five people including U Tun Tun Win from Shwe Hlan village and eight people from other villages. Some were taken from their homes, said a local who asked not to be named for security reasons.

The bodies of Ko Maung Kyaw Khaing from Lat Than Chay village, Ko Maung Than Htay from Kywal Tel village, and Habib Ar Laung from Bu Ta Lone Muslim village were found on March 2, and the body of U Maung Saw Hlaing from Shwe Hlan village was found on March 1. Locals said the men, ages 36, 39, 52 and 47, respectively, were among those arrested by the Tatmadaw.

The Tatmadaw, however, did not say anything in its statement regarding the four bodies discovered earlier this week. DMG phoned Colonel Win Zaw Oo, spokesperson for the military’s Western Command, seeking additional information, but he could not be reached for comment.

“The Tatmadaw arrested them. We want to know whether they are still alive or not. We want to know the names of the arrested people. The families of the detainees are so worried. They eat nothing. Villagers are also worried,” said Tan Pyin Gyi village administrator U Maung Thar Nyunt.

More than 130 civilians have been killed and over 360 injured due to fighting between the Tatmadaw and AA, according to the Arakan Students Union (Universities-Yangon), and dozens have been arrested for alleged ties to the ethnic armed group in recent months.