According to local sources, the perpetrators of the killings are militants of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, one of Myanmar’s ethnic militias. They are accused of having committed at least five murders in the last three months. Between 2016 and 2017, the civilian population was attacked by the Burmese army, in response to attacks by the insurgent group.
Kutupalong ( / Agencies) – Two leaders of the Rohingya community were shot dead yesterday in one of the refugee camps in Bangladesh. As of 2017, these camps have housed nearly a million refugees from the Rohingya ethnic minority who fled Myanmar. According to the local police spokesman, there are at least eight suspects in the murder of Syed Hossain and Abu Taleb, aged 40 and 35. “Both were taken to hospital, where they were confirmed dead,” police said, adding that security was tightened in the camps.
However, Rohingya sources contacted by Agence France-Presse They maintain that members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) were behind the shooting. This militant Islamic group operates in the western Burmese state of Rakhine and in refugee camps in Bangladesh. In the past three months, refugees have accused ARSA of killing at least five Rohingya leaders.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army is one of Myanmar’s armed ethnic militias and sees its actions as a legitimate response to the oppression of the Tatmadaw (the Burmese army). In August 2017, following several ARSA attacks on military outposts, the Tatmadaw responded with a “cleansing operation” in Rakhine state. Rohingya civilians were also targeted by the Burmese army, leading to the forced migration of more than 700,000 people, the largest exodus from the country since World War II. The United Nations later called the army’s actions “war crimes” and “attempted genocide”.
The previous year, the Tatmadaw it had already perpetrated brutal crimes against the Rohingya people, in an attempt to suppress the activities of ARSA, which Burmese generals described as an “extremist terrorist” organization. In 2016, Amnesty International described the crackdown on the Rohingya as “collective punishment” against the civilian population, accompanied by “widespread and systematic human rights violations against the minority, with deliberate targeting of civilians without even verifying ties to militants.” “. As a result of the operation, more than 90,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to Bangladesh.
Since the coup of Tatmadaw, which toppled the previous civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, ARSA has only been involved in seven skirmishes against army troops. Between 2018 and 2020, the group’s activity gradually decreased and the Rohingya community began to speak out against the violent activities of the insurgents.
In recent weeks, the Bangladeshi police have carried out a harsh campaign of repression, arresting almost 800 people for their alleged links to ARSA. In September last year, Mohib Ullah, a Rohingya rights activist who had been received at the White House, was shot dead.
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