Human rights groups have reported that over 200 Rohingya Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were targeted by drone and artillery attacks during fighting between the Arakan Army (AA) and the military in Maungdaw Township, located in northern Arakan (Rakhine) State near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, on Monday.
“The area has been bombarded with heavy weapons since the AA established a presence in Pan Taw Pyin [village], which is about a mile from [Maungdaw town]. Rohingya residents are aware of which house in Pan Taw Pyin has been used [by the AA] to launch these weapons,” Hla Tun, a Maungdaw resident, told BBC Burmese.
An unknown number of Maungdaw residents were killed while attempting to escape, via the Naf River, on boats into neighboring Bangladesh. A video circulating online – and shared by human rights activists – appears to show dozens of dead Rohingya on the river’s banks. This footage could not be independently verified by DVB.
“The [military] did not attack us with rockets. It was carried out by the AA. We tried to flee to Bangladesh for our survival,” Hasan, another Maungdaw resident, told Radio Free Asia.
Bangladesh media reported that at least 31 Rohingya, including 15 children, died when their boats capsized in the Bay of Bengal on Aug. 5. Maungdaw residents told DVB that fighting has intensified this week as the AA seeks to gain control over the border town, as it did in neighboring Buthidaung Township on May 18.
“We can clearly see how the AA has been desperately targeting Rohingya civilians. While the AA is fighting against the military, it is evident that they have the same intentions towards the Rohingya as the military,” said Nay San Lwin, the co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition.
Wai Wai Nu, a Rohingya lawyer and founder of the Women’s Peace Network, posted on social media that Rohingya are caught in the crossfire and Rohingya armed groups, aligned with the military, are preventing Maungdaw residents from leaving.
“The international community must immediately act for [the] protection and safety of all civilians in Rakhine State, including Rohingya civilians,” she wrote on social media.
The military regime in Naypyidaw has accused the AA of carrying out the attacks, but the AA denied responsibility in a post it shared to social media. Khaing Thukha, the AA spokesperson, did not respond to DVB’s request for comment.
The AA claimed in a statement on Wednesday that the drone and artillery attacks did not occur in areas under its control. Regime troops and the AA are deployed in the different areas of Maungdaw.
“Civilians who, for whatever reason, choose to stay remain protected by [International Humanitarian Law] and must not be attacked,” stated the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Myanmar. It called on both sides to ensure the safety of civilians and humanitarian aid workers.
Fighting between the AA and the military in Maungdaw began on June 16. Since then, the AA has reportedly seized up to seven out of the eight Border Guard Police (BGP) outposts in northern Arakan.
Over 700,000 Rohingya were forced into Bangladesh after a 2017 military clearance operation in northern Arakan that was labeled a genocide by the U.S. government in 2022. The U.N. has stated that there are 630,000 Rohingya living in Arakan State. At least 430,000 of them are IDPs, according to the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK).
