AA vows ‘befitting’ response after seven IDPs found dead in Buthidaung Twsp

By Admin 22 Jul 2024

DMG Newsroom
22 July 2024, Buthidaung

The bodies of seven ethnic Khami men from Gandaryone displacement camp in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, who were brutally killed by armed Muslim men, were discovered late last week, the Arakkha Army (AA) said in a statement on Sunday.

They were killed by the military-trained Muslim militiamen near Latpanshae aka Mawniko Village in Buthidaung Township on July 18 while they were collecting bamboo shoots, the AA’s statement said. Their bodies were found in the forest on July 19 and 20, the AA statement added.

“The AA will respond in a befitting manner to the fascist military council and terrorist armed Muslims who are harming the lives, property and security of the people of Arakan State in various ways,” the statement reads.

The AA said the regime has been militarily training Muslims in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, killing civilians, arresting, extorting, placing landmines, burning down communities and breaking into homes.

According to eyewitnesses, the regime and Muslim militiamen also burned down houses in Buthidaung before the AA seized control of the town.

“The military-trained Muslims entered the neighbourhood and burned down all the houses and buildings in Buthidaung,” said Daw Aye Kyi, a local woman from Ward-5 in Buthidaung.

The AA took control of Buthidaung on May 18, but there remain some junta soldiers on the run, and armed Muslim men, in the area.

The Gandaryone displacement camp is home to more than 1,900 displaced people from nearly 200 households, with many of those displaced having fled their homes since December 2019.