The Rohingya insurgent group ARSA broke its two-month silence on Twitter today with a statement saying its members were not stationed in a village where Myanmar security forces reportedly raped and killed hundreds of people in late August.
The group had not released a public statement since Oct. 24.
“ARSA’s members have not been present at all in Tula Toli village, Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, since Aug. 2017 until now,” the group’s statement reads.
PRESS STATEMENT [21/12/2017]:
– Re: Tula Toli (#MinGyi) Massacre in Northern #Maungdaw
– No #ARSA members were present at #TulaToli at the time #Burmese Terror Army were committing massacre of #Rohingya civilians at the village pic.twitter.com/ElOX85rqyY
— ARSA_The Army (@ARSA_Official) December 21, 2017
On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a major report documenting Myanmar troops’ systematic destruction of the village.
According to government accounts, members of ARSA laid a landmine in the vicinity of Tula Toli that injured two soldiers on Aug. 25 and set fire to 30 homes in the area on Aug. 28.
According to accounts collected by HRW from Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the Myanmar army’s response began that same day, when security forces fired on a group of around 100 unarmed Rohingya men who had gathered to persuade the army not to attack.
Troops accompanied by Rakhine civilians returned on the morning of Aug. 30, surrounded the Rohingya residents on three sides beside a river, and methodically gunned down hundreds of men and raped the women. They also reportedly smashed, burned, or drowned several babies.
In an apparent attempt to hide the evidence of the massacre, the troops and their accomplices burned the bodies.
According to ARSA, security forces had no reason to be in the village.
“It is unreasonable and illogical for the Burmese terrorist government and the terrorist army to claim blatantly that they were conducting clearance operations in an area where none of the members of ARSA was present,” says the group’s statement.
HRW’s report says: “Burmese military attacks on the Rohingya, such as at Tula Toli, have been both widespread and systematic. Statements by Burmese military and government officials have indicated an intent to attack this population.”
Doctors Without Borders announced last week that Myanmar troops and their accomplices killed at least 6,700 Rohingya, including 730 children, in the first month of clearance operations in northern Rakhine State.
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