bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Myanmar’s army said Sunday it had discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of 28 Hindus, including women and children, in violence-wracked Rakhine state, blaming the killings on Muslim Rohingya militants.
Thousands of Hindus have fled villages where they once lived alongside Muslims, alleging that they were targeted by militants whose August 25 raids plunged Rakhine into communal violence.
The announcement could not be independently verified in an region where access has been tightly controlled by Myanmar’s army.
Myanmar’s problems go far deeper than the Rohingya crisis
“Security members found and dug up 28 dead bodies of Hindus who were cruelly and violently killed by ARSA extremist Bengali terrorists in Rakhine State,” a statement on the army chief’s website said.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) is the group whose attacks on police posts triggered an army backlash so brutal that the UN believes it amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority.
More than 430,000 Rohingya have fled the region to Bangladesh in under a month, telling stories of Myanmar soldiers teaming up with vigilante mobs to slaughter civilians and burn entire villages to the ground.
Around 30,000 Hindus and Buddhists based in the area have also been displaced by the violence.
Both communities have told AFP they were terrorised by Rohingya militants.

The army said security officers found 20 dead women and eight men in two graves, including six boys under the age of 10.
A strong smell led security officers to the burial site outside Ye Baw Kya village, the army said.
Unverifiable photos published by the government’s Information Committee showed corpses laid out in rows on grass near two mud pits where they were found.
Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed the grim discovery to AFP, as did a senior police officer in Rakhine who requested anonymity.
The village where the bodies were found lies near a cluster of Hindu and Muslim communities in northern Rakhine called Kha Maung Seik.
Watch: What’s driving Myanmar’s Rohingya crisis?


Freedom fighter or curse? The man behind the Rohingya insurgency in Myanmar that sparked a refugee crisis
Last week, Hindus from the area said that militants swept into their villages on August 25 with sticks and knives, attacking people who stood in their way, killing many and taking others into the forest.
Hindu women are believed to have been abducted by the militants.
The grim discovery of the graves will further fuel hatred between ethnic groups in Myanmar.
The epicentre of the unrest, in northern Rakhine, is dominated by Rohingya Muslims who are a minority elsewhere and have been the target of decades of state-backed persecution and discrimination.
Around half of their estimated 1.1 million population has fled over the last year.
Northern Rakhine is also home to ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and a myriad of other groups.
Religious tensions have simmered for years, erupting into sporadic bouts of violence.
But the scale of the latest unrest is the worst to hit the region in years.
While the wretched lines of Rohingya streaming into Bangladesh have shocked and alarmed the world, there is scant sympathy for the Muslim group inside Myanmar.
Many in the Buddhist majority view the group as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite their long-established roots in the country.


Indonesian activists target Myanmar’s president in genocide case against him

Myanmar paves way for junta chief to be civilian president, ruling with ‘iron fist’

Malaysia’s Rohingya spend another Eid torn from their families

Rohingya Muslims

Myanmar army discovers mass grave of 28 Hindus in Rakhine state, blame killings on Rohingya militants

Myanmar’s army said it had found a mass grave containing the bodies of 28 Hindus, including women and children, in Rakhine state, blaming the killings on Muslim Rohingya militants. Photo: EPA

TOPSHOT - Smoke rises from what is believed to be a burning village in the area near Maungdaw in Myanmar's Rakhine state on August 30, 2017. At least 6,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing renewed violence in Myanmar are stranded near the border with Bangladesh which is blocking their entry, a senior Bangladeshi official said on August 29, as the United Nations urged Dhaka to let them in. / AFP PHOTO / STR

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

Military chief said officers found 20 dead women and eight men, including six boys under the age of 10.


Myanmar army discovers mass grave of 28 Hindus in Rakhine state, blame killings on Rohingya militants

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Military chief said officers found 20 dead women and eight men, including six boys under the age of 10.

Military chief said officers found 20 dead women and eight men, including six boys under the age of 10.