Border News Agency
Ponnagyun, September 20.
Prisoners of war captured during fighting near the Sittwe–Ponnagyun border have told the Arakan Army (AA) that Myanmar military commanders ordered troops to carry out the systematic killing of Rakhine people, including women and children.
The AA released information today, September 20, about the captured Myanmar military soldiers, as well as weapons and ammunition seized during fighting near the Sittwe–Ponnagyun border.
The soldiers were captured during fighting on September 16 between Kwan Taung and Aing Hpyu Kwin villages. According to the AA, they belonged to battalions under the No. 101 Division Headquarters based in Pakokku.
One captured soldier, identified as Michael, said the orders given to the troops amounted to a campaign to completely destroy the Rakhine population.
“Their order was to completely destroy this Rakhine land, without leaving anything behind. They have deployed their forces to battlefields in different places and directions. They told us that when we meet Rakhine people, we must not leave anyone alive—neither women, nor men, nor children. We were ordered to destroy them completely, down to the roots.”
According to the statements of the captured soldiers, senior Myanmar military officers ordered their forces to completely eliminate women, children and ethnic groups during the military offensive in Arakan.
The testimony has raised allegations of genocidal orders by the Myanmar military against the Rakhine population. The allegations described by the prisoners concern the deliberate killing and destruction of Rakhine civilians, including women and children.
The captured soldiers also said that during the military offensive near Sittwe and Ponnagyun, military officers ordered lower-ranking soldiers to fight and die while the officers themselves remained behind or fled.
Another captured soldier, Aung Pyae Sone, said:
“When we were captured, our platoon commander told us that the other side had more troops and said he would come back to get us. He left us there, and we were captured. He told us not to retreat and to fight until we died. But they stayed behind. They were only trying to gain benefits and get promoted.”
The captured soldiers said military officers had threatened to shoot soldiers who attempted to flee. They said the officers showed no loyalty or sympathy toward their own soldiers and urged other soldiers still serving in the Myanmar military to escape while they could.
The prisoners also said they had become deeply dissatisfied with the Myanmar military and wanted to join the Arakan Army and serve within its ranks.
