Rohingya militants massacred nearly 100 Hindus: Report
Naypyidaw, May 23: Members of a Rohingya militant group allegedly massacred as many as 99 people, including women and children, in Hindu villages in Myanmar's Rakhine state in 2017, according to a new Amnesty International report.
In mid-2017, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) committed "serious human rights abuses... Including unlawful killings and abductions", CNN reported on Tuesday citing the report. At the same time, the ARSA engaged in "scores of clashes with security forces".
The Myanmar government has blamed the ARSA for attacking border guards and sparking a violent crackdown which has seen hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims flee Myanmar into neighbouring Bangladesh.
On August 25, 2017, ARSA militants attacked a Hindu village in Maungdaw and rounded up some 69 men, women, and children, the majority of whom were killed, "execution-style", according to survivors who spoke to Amnesty.
The same day, 46 members of a Hindu community in a nearby village disappeared.
"In this brutal and senseless act, members of ARSA captured scores of Hindu women, men, and children and terrorised them before slaughtering them outside their own villages. The perpetrators of this heinous crime must be held to account," CNN quoted Tirana Hassan, Crisis Response Director at Amnesty International, as saying.
The ARSA was able to recruit some villagers to help carry out the attack, but the "overwhelming majority of Rohingya did not", Amnesty said in its report, which it based on interviews with survivors and photographic evidence of the scene analysed by forensic anthropological expert.
The Myanmar government has declined to comment on the Amnesty report.
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Davangere: Two policemen injured in stone pelting during Ganesha procession
Davangere: Reports state that two groups engaged in stone pelting at each other during Ganesha idol immersion ceremony in Davangere on Thursday. Two police personnel were injured in the incident.
Few days ago, two groups of youth engaged in verbal altercation regarding raising of a flag for Eid Milad celebration. On account of the clashes, police had heightened security for the Ganesha procession. Despite the additional security, stones were pelted at the procession, sources stated. Inspector Gururaj and constable Raghavendra were injured in the incident. The procession continued after the police brought the situation to control. However, the stone pelting resumed once again as the procession surged forwards.
Security has been tightened up in the area and all shops have been closed down by the police. The two police personnel, who were injured in the stone pelting, are undergoing treatment at a hospital.
