Dozens killed in junta airstrikes on AA detention camps in Arakan: ethnic army

By Admin 10 Sep 2024

DMG Newsroom
10 September 2024, Maungdaw

Dozens of prisoners of war (POWs) have been killed and several others injured in junta airstrikes on temporary detention camps set up by the Arakkha Army (AA) in Arakan State’s Pauktaw and Maungdaw townships in recent days.

A junta jet fighter attacked a location where prisoners of war are being kept near Shinywa Village in Pauktaw Township, killing 17 people including 10 local residents, and wounded 10 others, at around 7 p.m. on September 8, the AA said in a statement.

Among those killed and injured were prisoners of war, convicts, AA officials, health workers and civilians including children from the surrounding area.

At least 50 prisoners of war and detainees were killed and many others were injured after two junta jet fighters dropped bombs on Border Guard Force (BGF) Battalion No. 2 in 4th-Mile Village, Maungdaw Township, at around 9:30 p.m. on September 9, the AA said in another statement.

Among the deceased were junta soldiers, military-trained Muslim militiamen, members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), junta informants, Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) cadres and some who who were arrested on suspicion.

Political analysts criticised the regime’s aerial bombing of detention camps in AA-controlled territory as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“A detention camp is a place where the United League of Arakan (ULA) holds people guilty of crimes, not a military camp. The prisoners are also ordinary people because they are imprisoned. The regime’s military targeting of civilians is a crime against humanity as well as war crimes,” said U Pe Than, a political analyst.

Residents said the regime’s daily aerial bombardments, of both military and civilian targets, should be dealt with internationally.

“We are always worried about the regime airstrikes. International governments and organisations need to prevent the regime from committing war crimes,” said a female official from a civil society organisation in Arakan State.

The AA has urged local people in Arakan State to be aware of the regime’s airstrikes and the threat of landmines as the regime continues to bomb densely populated areas, including hospitals, schools, markets, and religious and public buildings, as well as abandoned military bases.