Junta soldiers, Muslim militiamen accused of torching homes in Buthidaung

By Admin 18 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
18 April 2024, Buthidaung

Junta soldiers and Muslim militiamen trained by the regime are reportedly destroying public property in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State.

Hundreds of homes have been targeted in Buthidaung Township since April 11.

“Junta soldiers and Muslim militiamen torched hundreds of homes and bulldozed some homes. Hundreds of homes including rural healthcare centres have been destroyed. I don’t know how the Muslims were organised by the military council,” said a local resident in Buthidaung.

An office and a pharmacy run by Buthidaung-based Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were set on fire on April 15, reducing more than 200 nearby homes to ashes, MSF said in a statement.

“The burning down of MSF’s office and pharmacy is just the latest blow to what is a decimation of available healthcare options for people in Rakhine [Arakan] state and their continued denial from access to humanitarian assistance,” the statement said.

MSF provides free medical treatment to the poor and internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State.

“My home was torched by the junta soldiers and Muslim militiamen. My friend’s homes in Ward 1 and Ward 5 were also destroyed,” said a local woman in Buthidaung.

Locals in Buthidaung town are fleeing to safer locations as they fear the fighting will spill over into the urban areas due to the ongoing fighting between the military and Arakha Army (AA) in Buthidaung Township.

Food in a warehouse owned by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Buthidaung town has also been vandalised and household appliances were stolen from unoccupied homes.

“There are people who go to Buthidaung and visit their houses from time to time. They say that the houses have been broken into. Some said they saw junta soldiers and Muslim militiamen coming in vehicles and moving things out of their homes,” said a social activist in Buthidaung.

DMG phoned junta spokesman Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun regarding the matter, but he could not be reached.

AA spokesperson U Khaing Thukha said the regime has armed some Muslim militants and deployed them in and around Buthidaung town, and is stoking regional instability and ethnic and religious tensions in various ways.