AA denies killing Maungdaw Muslims

By Admin 24 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
24 April 2024, Maungdaw

The Arakkha Army (AA) has denied killing five Muslim villagers in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State.

Five male villagers aged 40 to 50 from Abuja Village in northern Maungdaw were abducted by an unidentified armed group on April 17. Their bodies were found near the village on April 22, according to residents.

AA spokesman Khaing Thukha denied allegations circulating on social media that the five were killed by the ethnic armed group.

“We have nothing to do with killings. Muslim terrorist organisations including the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, Arakan Rohingya Army, Rohingya Solidarity Organization and other drug gangs are active in the area. They were probably killed in the fighting between those criminal gangs,” said the AA spokesman.

It is also possible that terrorist organisations that hate the AA have attempted to mar its image, U Khaing Thukha said in response to accusations made against the ethnic armed group.

The AA even takes good care of prisoners of war, and would never commit extrajudicial killings, said the AA spokesman.

DMG attempted unsuccessfully to contact family members of the victims in Maungdaw Township, where telecommunications are down.

The regime and the AA have been fighting daily in Arakan State as the AA seeks to seize the entirety of Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships.

The regime has forcibly recruited Muslims and has reportedly been using them in arson attacks and theft of civilians’ property.

The AA as well as Arakanese and Muslim communities have told DMG that the regime is attempting to create racial conflicts between the two communities in Arakan State after a string of humiliating military defeats.