Rohingya man recounts 'horror' of Myanmar Army crackdown

A Rohingya man, who has fled a crackdown on insurgents after attacks on security forces in Myanmar, has said the army is killing civilians indiscriminately at Rakhine state.

Moktar Hossain, who received a bullet injury in front of his house at Medi in Maungdaw early on Friday, recounted the experience at Chittagong Medical College Hospital in Bangladesh on Saturday.

He said he crossed the border with two other bullet-hit Rohingyas through Unchhi Parha of Teknaf. They walked all the way from their village to Bangladesh.

The three were given first aid at Médecins Sans Frontières hospital at the Kutupalong refugee camp.

Moktar and another person with bullet wound, Mohammad Musa, were later transferred to CMCH where Musa died.

"Police and army are shooting indiscriminately at whoever comes to their sight," he said.

He alleged people of the Buddhist Mog community were also carrying firearms and shooting at Rohingyas.

Moktar, the third among six siblings, said he first fled to the jungle next to his house after being shot.

He said he had no idea what happened to his wife, 1-year-old son, parents, siblings and other members of the family.

"No one can survive there. They are killing everyone they see," he said.

Asked why he came to Ukhia after fleeing, he said he has relatives in the refugee camp where he had taken shelter for 20 days two years ago.

His wife's aunt Jahara Begum, who has been at the camp for 25 years, said many other hit by bullet in the latest violence were staying at the camp now.

There is no official figure how many Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh since Friday, but the old residents of the camps said the number would be more than 1,000.

Security was beefed up at the border after shootings occurred on the other side on Saturday afternoon but there was no report of casualties, said Lt Col Manjurul Hassan Khan, commander of Border Guards Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar 34 Battalion.

The Myanmar Border Guard Police, or BGP, fired at the Rohingyas seeking refuge on the border with Bandarban’s Naikhyangchhari Upazila.

Rohingyas have attempted to flee across the border into Bangladesh since Friday after insurgents attacked 30 police posts in the border state of Rakhine and killed 12 Myanmar security personnel. Seventy-seven insurgents have reportedly been killed in the attacks.

Several thousand Rohingyas are currently occupying a four-mile stretch on the shore of the Naf River in Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhia, awaiting decisions from Bangladesh authorities.

BGB officer Khan said the border guards sent back most of the Rohingyas who crossed the border into Bangladesh.

The Rohingya minority in Myanmar has faced persecution for many years. Myanmar has not recognised calls from the global community, including the UN, to ensure and protect the human rights of the Rohingyas.

Around 87,000 Rohingyas joined hundreds of thousands of refugees in Bangladesh after the Myanmar army crackdown on militants following an attack on a police post in October last year.