Regime detains over a dozen civilians in Sittwe

By DMG 24 Jun 2022

DMG Newsroom
24 June 2022, Sittwe 

The Myanmar military has detained 15 residents in Sittwe after the Arakan Army (AA) detained a captain and a private in the Arakan State capital on Thursday, according to residents. 

Junta troops searched houses in several Sittwe wards and among the detainees were a Muslim from Thakkel Pyin village, said residents. The actual number of detainees could be higher than 15, they cautioned. 

The wife of one of the detainees, U Khin Maung Saw, said her husband was abducted by around 15 soldiers from the Myanmar military. His whereabouts, as with the rest of the detainees, are still unknown. 

“They detained my husband at our shop around 5 p.m. yesterday. My husband is innocent. They said they had questions to ask him. I am worried about his safety,” she said on Friday. 

Junta troops searched homes and arrested residents in Mingan Ward after the AA’s detention of junta soldiers at about noon on June 23. They reportedly fired around 20 shots and made more arrests in the evening. 

“Teenagers were playing football. They fled in fear when soldiers came, and soldiers chased after them,” said a resident. “They searched a house thinking that the teenagers were hiding in that house. The woman from the house said there was only her son and daughter at the house, and that her husband was not at home. A moment later, her younger brother came to her house after he heard that soldiers were searching the house of his sister. He was seized by soldiers.” 

A Mingan ward resident said: “They detained a neighbour because he talked back a little bit. They also detained a man from a purified drinking water plant for allegedly video-recording them. In fact, the man was just on his phone at the moment.” 

The Myanmar military has detained dozens of residents in Ponnagyun, Mrauk-U and Kyauktaw townships, and the Arakan Army has seized at least 10 junta soldiers and police in those townships. 

DMG was unable to obtain comment from Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura on Friday.