AB News – August 1, 2024
It has been preliminarily reported that ARSA militants ambushed a vehicle carrying seven travelers in Maungdaw Township, resulting in the immediate death of five people, including a school teacher.
The travelers were en route from Buthidaung Township to Kyain Chaung Village in Maungdaw Township around 4 PM on July 31. The deceased have been identified as Ko Zaw Zaw Min (alias Shwe Thet Ko, 35 years old), Ko Aung Myat San (25 years old), Ko Aung Myo San (25 years old), U Kyaw Min (55 years old), and Daw Sein Hla (55 years old, a teacher) from Ward 4, Buthidaung Township.
It is known that Ko Aung Myat San and Ko Aung Myo San were brothers, and U Kyaw Min and Daw Sein Hla were husband and wife. Two others, Maung Myo Thant Shein (27 years old) and Maung Maung Che (44 years old), were injured and are in critical condition.
All of them were internally displaced persons from Buthidaung Township traveling to Kyain Chaung Village in Maungdaw Township to shop when they were ambushed and shot by ARSA militants on the main road, about three miles between Shwe Taung Village and Kyi Kan Pyin Taung Village in Maungdaw Township, according to reliable sources.
“Yesterday evening, ARSA militants ambushed a traveling vehicle. The passengers were brutally shot and stabbed. The ARSA militants are widespread in Maungdaw and Buthidaung areas, causing extreme concern. Such incidents in broad daylight terrify the local villagers,” the source said.
In Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships, ARSA militants are reportedly active in various forms, carrying out killings, stabbings, and robberies against non-Muslim locals.
On July 18, it was reported that seven Khami people from Ward 4, Buthidaung Township, were brutally killed by ARSA militants, according to a statement by the Arakan Army on July 21.
Additionally, on July 20, around noon, ARSA militants abducted and killed three cattle traders from Min Kyi Village and Ta Rein Village in Maungdaw Township.
Furthermore, on July 20, at around 4 PM, ARSA militants abducted U Aung Htwe’s son, Pan Sein Maung (47 years old), and U Maung Aye Tha’s son, Zaw Htun Win (38 years old), from Pya Thar Village in Maungdaw Township, and they remain missing as of today, August 1.