Rohingya Muslim insurgents yesterday said that 10 Rohingya found in a mass grave last month in Myanmar’s Rakhine State were “innocent civilians” and not members of their group.
The Burmese military earlier this week said its soldiers had killed 10 captured Muslim “terrorists” during insurgent attacks at the beginning of September last year, after Buddhist villagers had forced the captured men into a grave the villagers had dug.
It was a rare acknowledgment of wrongdoing by the Burmese military during its operations in Rakhine.
Photo: AFP
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), whose raids against security posts starting in August last year sparked sweeping military operations in the Muslim-majority Rakhine State, said it “whole-heartedly welcomes the admission” of “war crimes” by the “Burmese terrorist army.”
“We hereby declare that these 10 innocent Rohingya civilians found in the said mass grave in Inn Din Village Tract were neither ARSA nor had any association with ARSA,” the group said on Twitter.
Sometimes “terrorists and villagers were allied” in attacks against security forces, Burmese government spokesman Zaw Htay said in response.
“We have already said it is very difficult to segregate who is a terrorist and who are innocent villagers,” Zaw Htay said. “There will be an ongoing investigating process whether they are members of ARSA or not.”
The Burmese military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Burmese State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday said it was “positive” that the nation’s military was taking responsibility for the actions of troops.
“It is a new step for our country,” she told a joint news conference with Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono in Naypyidaw.
“I see it that way, because a country needs to take responsibility for the rule of law in the country, and this is the first step on the road of taking responsibility and it is a positive thing,” she said, according to a transcript of the news conference posted on Facebook.
On Dec. 18 last year, the Burmese military announced that a mass grave containing 10 bodies had been found at the coastal village of Inn Din, about 50km north of the state capital Sittwe, and appointed a senior officer to investigate.
A statement from the Burmese military on Wednesday said its investigation had found that members of the security forces had taken part in the killing and action would be taken against them.
The Rohingya crisis erupted after Rohingya insurgent attacks on security posts on Aug. 25 last year in Rakhine triggered a fierce military response that the UN denounced as ethnic cleansing.
Myanmar denies ethnic cleansing, saying its security forces had mounted legitimate counterinsurgency clearance operations.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from