Massacre in Maung Gyi Taung — the world must know

By Veronica Pedrosa

(She has been working with Nobel Prize laureates to inform the world about the plight of the Rohingyans.)

Multiple witnesses say a massacre took place in Maung Gyi Taung (also known as Soe Fara), near Buthidaung Township in Myanmar’s far west Rakhine state. Men and women from the village who had fled to what are now massive camps in neighbouring Bangladesh and a man still living in the village say at least 14 men were killed and 11 women raped, one of whom, they say, died later from her injuries.

Seventy-two more people were injured, we were told but were not able to verify independently. Access to northern Rakhine state has been all but banned. As we pieced the witnesses’ accounts together, the detail of the planning that went into the operation was apparent at every step. This was a calculated plan.

This massacre, like others previously reported, happened in the wake of multiple attacks on Friday 25 August 2017 across Rakhine State claimed by the terrorist group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The Rohingya insurgents armed with knives and home-made bombs attacked more than 30 police posts in northern Rakhine, according to the government.

The witnesses I met in Kutupalong, Bangladesh, said the attack on their village, which the military characterized as counter-terrorism operations, happened the next day. But they also told us that two days before – on the Thursday – more than a 100 military had approached Maung Gyi Taung from Buthidaung and stopped at the bridge connecting the two areas, where they waited.

On the Saturday, the villagers said two separate groups of Myanmar soldiers approached from different directions, at the same time that the group that had been waiting by the bridge moved in. As they entered the village, the soldiers buried mines along the road between the bridge and paddy fields beside the village tracts. They shot in the direction of homes and set fire to them, sending villagers who could get away running for safety to a nearby mountain and village. But the escaping men soon heard women who hadn’t managed to flee in time, screaming inside their homes. The men turned around and came under fire again for trying to rescue the women. None of the villagers were armed.

“Three,” whispered Razia, 35 and a single mother of 6. She’d finally spoken after minutes of soft weeping. She’d overcome her shame to admit that she’d been raped by three men in her own home. She bled “very seriously” afterwards; even now, more than six months later she suffers pain in her abdomen and bleeds for weeks at a time.

Another witness told us that when the military entered the village that morning they split up into small groups to enter each house. The village was in uproar, gunshots rang out, people were shouting “Oh Allah, God please save us.” Those who could, escaped through the only area not surrounded by military.

Samia’s husband was in the house with her that morning. She watched as seven soldiers invaded her home and took her husband, while her children ran away. One soldier held down her hands, another covered her mouth, yet another covered her eyes then raped her, she says. She remembers that one soldier’s attack on her but says she doesn’t know what happened next.

At about the same time, Jamal, a casual labourer, fled with his family as soon as he heard the gunfire and shouting in the village, his home was not far from the mountain and a river creek. From his vantage point, he saw fires burning in the village and could only imagine what was happening.

Rofique is 49 years old, he was the imam at one of the village’s 15 mosques. He said the attack started around 9am (though later he said there was shooting between 10 am and 12pm). He pointed on the map to show us the roads along which the military planted mines. Along with the other men who hadn’t been caught, he escaped to another village. He would only find out later what had happened to his young son.

Hussin wept as he recalled the escalating violence against Rohingya over his lifetime. This is the third time he’s been forced to flee across the border to Bangladesh. As Hussin hid with other men like Rofique and Jamal, he told us young students, including his 15 year old son Abdullah, were making their way home after school in Buthidaung. He said his son was with friends and he and his friend Rofique’s son were shot dead from the Buthidaung side before they entered the village. Abdullah was a talented, respectful boy, a very good son who wanted to be a teacher and was always with his books.

Fifty five-year-old Noor had lived in Maung Gyi Taung since she married her husband as a teenager. Her six children range in age between 35 and 18. Her 25 year old son, Khalaya was with her at home, with his own infant son. A group of soldiers entered the house and caught Khalaya, his mother watched as they took her grandson from his arms and threw him on the ground, before taking Khalaya away to a paddy field on the outskirts of the village. Her house was burned to the ground along with almost all the houses in her village she says.

Eighteen-year-old Asma said her husband, also a casual labourer, was a good man who was killed as he tried to run away from the military, she saw his dead body afterwards. They’d been married only 25 days.

Maung Gyi Taung villagers heard by phone from Buthidaung when the soldiers had left the village at around 5 pm, and made their way back to find out what had become of their homes and their families.

The military had turned the paddy field which had provided the food for life for the villagers into a killing field. It was here that the 14 victims massacred that day were found. At first they were placed together in a mass grave, but were later buried with religious rites in separate graves in the cemetery.

By the next morning, they’d heard what had happened at Samia’s house and went in to find her unconscious and naked on the floor. A local medic gave her some treatment and she recovered enough to make the journey to Bangladesh.

Their homes destroyed and without proper access to food, surviving villagers waited for more than a week, hiding in the mountains, before deciding to make the journey to Bangladesh.

Korim spoke to us from Maung Gyi Taung itself, and confirmed 14 people were killed that day. The families that remain really want to stay but they’re still being harassed. They’ve tried many times to go to Buthidaung market themselves for food and supplies, but they’ve been stopped by the military. They’ve only had food aid reach them twice. “We’re still not safe,” he said.