One Rohingya Dead, Six Injured in Attack by Buddhist Mob in Myanmar’s Rakhine

Authorities in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state tightened security in the state capital after a Buddhist mob attacked and killed one Rohingya Muslim man and injured six others in the latest act of sectarian violence to rock the restive state, local police said on Wednesday.

A group of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists threw bricks at the Rohingya men and attacked a vehicle in which they were traveling in the Buddhist-majority Ywar Gyi Mrauk neighborhood of Sittwe on Tuesday, killing 55-year-old Maung Nu, also known as Monir Ahmad, according to a statement issued by the office of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

The violence prompted police to step up patrols in the area, said Sittwe district police chief Lieutenant Colonel Win Naung.

“Everything in Sittwe is well under control,” he said. “We have made all necessary arrangements for the safety of the townsfolk in Sittwe.”

Police are investigating the incident, but no arrests have been made, he said.

Two seriously injured men are being treated at Sittwe General Hospital, while the four others have been sent back to the Dapaing internally displaced persons camp (IDP), the statement said.

Those who were attacked were among 10 Rohingya who had received permission to leave the camp on the city’s outskirts to give statements at a criminal case in a Sittwe court, according to state media reports.

During a break in the trial, seven of the men asked police to escort them to a nearby dock where they discussed buying a boat from a local businessman.

An argument broke out on the boat jetty, attracting the attention of local residents who then attacked the men, state media said.

A police escort, who was not carrying a weapon, was unable to stop the angry mob from hurling bricks at the men, and he fled the scene unharmed, according to a report by the online journal The Irrawaddy.

Full story: rfa.org

Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.