Myanmar Military Acknowledges Deadly Helicopter Attacks on Rohingya Villagers
Military spokesman Major General Tun Tun Nyi told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the army used helicopters on April 3 to deter the AA from firing at its troops.
“Yes, we used helicopters and necessary equipment during the fighting,” he said.
The military-run Myawady newspaper said the army acted after it had received a confirmed report that about 150 AA troops were positioned around Sai Din Creek in Buthidaung township, and that the helicopter assault killed six Rohingya and injured nine others during the fighting.
The six Rohingya reported dead by the military were from Thayet Pyin, Dabyu Chaung, King Taung, Hteik Htoo Pauk, and Hpon Nyo Leik villages and were with AA “terrorist” troops while the battle was taking place, the newspaper said. About a dozen others were wounded by the aerial gunfire.
“We have been questioning the injured and people who had been involved [with the AA] during the fighting,” Tun Tun Nyi said. “They are not from one place. It is obvious to conclude that they could be AA members because people from four or five villages were all together in the same [combat] place with the AA.
“The other reason is they are AA members or ordinary people whom the AA asked to help them,” he said. “Some people could have been forced by the AA to go with them. We are questioning them.”
He did not explain how the Muslim Rohingya could possibly work with the AA, a group of Rakhine nationalists and Buddhists historically hostile to the Rohingya. Local Rakhines were seen helping the Myanmar army during its 2016-17 campaign that drove 740,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh.
Effects of war
Local residents told RFA on Thursday that at least 10 Rohingya working at the Sai Din bamboo production site died and more than a dozen others were injured by the Myanmar military’s aerial attack during fighting between the two armed forces near the Sai Din mountain range.
But AA spokesman Khine Thukha denied that Arakan forces engaged in combat with Myanmar troops in the area where the helicopter attack occurred and said that government forces have routinely fired artillery and arms indiscriminately.
When RFA contacted asked Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun of the Myanmar military's information team on Thursday, he confirmed that a battle took place in Buthidaung north of Yae Soe Chaung village.
But he referred questions about the Rohingya killed during a helicopter attack to Brigadier General Win Zaw Oo, spokesman for the military’s Western Regional Command responsible for Rakhine state. RFA could not reach Win Zaw Oo because his mobile phone was switched off.
Hostilities between the government army and the AA, which is battling Myanmar forces in several Rakhine townships in its quest for greater autonomy in the state, reignited in late 2018 and exploded in early January after Arakan soldiers conducted deadly attacks on police outposts in northern Rakhine.
In response to the attacks, the Myanmar government branded the AA a terrorist group and instructed its forces to crush it.
Between Jan. 4 and March 28, the fighting claimed the lives of 58 AA soldiers, 27 policemen, and 12 civilians, according to the Myanmar government. The number of Myanmar soldiers who have died has not yet been disclosed.
The Rakhine state government estimates that more than 26,000 civilians have been displaced by the fighting, while a Rakhine ethnic NGO puts the number at nearly 28,700 as of April 2.
Though the central and state government has provided relief assistance and supplies to the displaced civilians, Rakhine NGOs have said some temporary camps lack enough drinking water and food and that security issues have made it impossible to travel to certain areas. The Myanmar government has prevented almost all humanitarian aid groups from accessing the region as of January.
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