Amnesty International: Rohingya militants massacred Hindus in Myanmar

Rohingya Muslim militants massacred 99 Hindu citizens in Myanmar, including 45 whose bodies were found in a mass grave near Yebawkya villa...

Rohingya Muslim militants massacred 99 Hindu citizens in Myanmar, including 45 whose bodies were found in a mass grave near Yebawkya village, according to an Amnesty International report. Photo by Nyein Chan Naning/EPA

By Daniel Uria, UPI

A group of Rohingya Muslim militants killed nearly 100 Hindu civilians in a series of attacks in Myanmar, according to an Amnesty International report.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army killed 99 Hindu people in one, or possibly two massacres, in August 2017, Amnesty International concluded after reviewing dozens of interviews and photographic evidence.

"Our latest investigation on the ground sheds much-needed light on the largely under-reported human rights abuses by ARSA during northern Rakhine State's unspeakably dark recent history," Amnesty International Crisis Response Director Tirana Hassan said.

On Aug. 26, ARSA members attacked the Hindu village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, rounding up 53 people before they robbed, bound, and blindfolded them and took them to the outskirts of the village where they were executed.

Twenty men, 10 women, and 23 children, including 14 under the age of eight were killed.

The same day, all 46 of the Hindu men, women, and children in the neighboring village of Ye Bauk Kyar disappeared, according to the report.

The bodies of 45 people from Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik were found in mass graves in September, while the 46 bodies of those from Ye Bauk Kyar haven't been found.

Amnesty International's report also highlighted "an unlawful and grossly disproportionate campaign of violence by Myanmar's security forces" in response to attacks by ARSA fighters on about 30 Myanmar security posts on Aug. 25.

"ARSA's appalling attacks were followed by the Myanmar military's ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya population as a whole. Both must be condemned - human rights violations or abuses by one side never justify abuses or violations by the other," Hassan said.