Rakhine, Burmese army: responsible for the massacre of 10 Rohingya

It is the first time that military admit bad conduct. The incident occurred on September 2 in the village of Inn Din, at the height of the tension between Rohingya, military and local ethnic groups. The military blames Islamist militants for disturbances in the settlement.

Naypyitaw (AsiaNews) - Myanmar security forces took part in a massacre of 10 Rohingya in September. This is what the office of the head of the army declares, for the first time admitting the existence of abuses during the counter-offensive which triggered a mass exodus of the Muslim minority from the western state of Rakhine since last August.

In a note on Facebook, the Tatmadaw [the Burmese army, ed] states that the massacre took place on September 2 in the village of Inn Din, at the height of the tension between Rohingya, the military and local ethnic groups, after the killing of a man of Rakhine ethnicity. "Some inhabitants of the village of Inn Din and members of the security have confessed to killing 10 Bengali terrorists," reads the note, which blames the militants of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) for troubles in the settlement.

According to its version of events the armed forces had captured 10 Rohingya militants, while the violence raged in the village and the surrounding area. "The decision was made to kill them in the cemetery".

The Rohingya refugees who fled to neighboring Bangladesh provided reports of massacres by Myanmar security forces flanked by the Rakhine ethnic groups. Myanmar is accused of ethnic cleansing by the United States and the United Nations. However, the Burmese army has so far firmly rejected the allegations of misconduct, claiming to have operated for the stability of the country and to defend citizens, threatened by Islamist violence.