Myanmar election: Arakan Army militant group admits abducting three NLD candidates
- The armed group in Rakhine state descended on a campaign event for Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling NLD party ahead of the November election
- It posted a photo of the three kidnapped candidates saying they would be freed if the government released detained people
Militant group the Arakan Army (AA) has for nearly two years been locked in battle against the military, fighting for more autonomy for the state’s ethnic Rakhine population.
Both sides stand accused of rights abuses, with hundreds killed or injured and some 200,000 forced to flee their homes in an area under a strict lockdown that makes independent reporting practically impossible.
With the election three weeks away, gunmen last Wednesday descended on a campaign event for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) in Taunggok township in southern Rakhine, an area relatively unscathed by the violence.
Eyewitness and NLD supporter Thant Zin Phyo described how he and around 10 other men and women had been beaten and called “traitors”, before the gunmen left with candidates Min Aung, Ni Ni May Myint and Chit Chit Chaw.