Hundreds of fleeing Rohingya forced to return from Bangladesh border after Monday’s drone strike

By Aamir Latif

ANKARA (AA) - A drone attack that killed over 200 fleeing Rohingya Muslims near the Bangladesh border on Monday has forced hundreds to return to their hometowns, while thousands are still taking shelter in paddy fields awaiting to cross into neighboring Bangladesh, a rights group said on Sunday.

Risking their lives, a few hundred have moved toward areas held by the rebel group, which is accused of carrying out the deadly drone attack near the Naf River that makes a natural boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

"Rohingya in Maungdaw (town) are still trying to flee to Bangladesh. Some are fleeing to areas controlled by the Arakan Army as they don't see any other alternative, Nay San Lwin, the co-founder of Free Rohingya Coalition, told Anadolu.

Free Rohingya Coalition is a global network of Rohingya activists.

Monday's deadly attack took place in Maungdaw township of Myanmar's Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh.

Videos posted on social media showed piles of bodies strewn across muddy ground, with their luggage scattered around them.

The latest attack, viewed as part of an ongoing onslaught by the rebel group on Rohingya, has raised fears of further escalation in violence against the fleeing people, who have already been reeling from a systemic cleansing operation by Myanmar's military junta.

Thousands of Rohingya had fled to Maungdaw township following the capture of adjoining Buthidaung town by rebels in May this year.

Buthidaung has the largest Rohingya population since the massive wave of violence against the Rohingya in 2017 by the Myanmar army.

- 'Forceful' conscription

The Arakan Army is "forcibly" conscripting Rohingya youth in Buthudaung, aside from committing "numerous" other abuses, according to Nay.

"In recent days, the Arakan Army has ordered two villages — Sein Hynin Pyar and Hpon Nyo Leik — to provide them with at least 100 Rohingya youth," he said.

The rebel group, according to him, threatened that the Rohingya's villages would be burned down if the youth were not provided for its force.

Families are being forced to pay huge amounts to avoid forced conscription, he further said.

The Arakan Army after killing almost 2,000 Rohingya and burning thousands of Rohingya houses in Buthidaung in May, began targeting the Muslim community in Maungdaw in early June, according to Nay.

Since then, he added, at least 400 Rohingya have been killed in Maungdaw.

"The Rohingya in Maungdaw are still fleeing, but due to Bangladesh's strict policy of not allowing new refugees, many have been turned away at the border, and some have been sent back to Myanmar recently," Nay maintained.

As of now, some Rohingya are fleeing to areas controlled by the Arakan Army.

"The humanitarian situation is very dire. The suffering in Buthidaung is beyond imagination," he observed.

Some 600,000 members of the mostly Muslim ethnic group remain in the state, while more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women, and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.

The Arakan Army suspended a cease-fire agreement in November that had been in place since the February 2021 military coup d'etat.