ENTRE News – A drone attack attacked the Rohingya community who were fleeing Myanmar, causing dozens of people to die, including families and children. A number of witnesses described, as reported by Reuters on Saturday (10/8), the attack making survivors walk among piles of bodies to identify their relatives.
Four eyewitnesses, consisting of a number of activists and diplomats, described the drone attack that occurred on Monday (5/8) as attacking Rohingya families who were waiting to cross the country’s border into Bangladesh. A woman who was heavily pregnant and her two year old daughter were among the victims of the attack. The attack was the deadliest known attack on civilians in fighting between junta forces and rebels in Rakhine state over the past few weeks.
Three witnesses told Reuters on Friday (9/8) that the Arakan Army was responsible for the attack. However, the troops denied this. The militias and the Myanmar military are said to be blaming each other. Reuters also said that it could not confirm how many casualties resulted from the attack, or independently who was responsible for the incident. A number of videos circulating on social media show piles of bodies strewn across the muddy ground, with suitcases and backpacks strewn about. Three survivors said as many as 200 people died while another surviving witness said he saw at least 70 bodies.
Reuters said the location in the video appeared to be outside the coastal city of Maungdaw. However, Reuters could not independently confirm where the video was made. A witness, 35-year-old Mohammed Eleyas, said his heavily pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter were injured in the attack and later died. Eleyas told Reuters at a refugee camp in Bangladesh that he was with his wife and children when the attack occurred on the coast.
“I heard deafening gunshots several times,” Eleyas said.
Eleyas said he lay on the ground to protect himself and when he woke up, he saw his wife and daughter badly injured and many of his relatives dead. Meanwhile, a second witness named Shamsuddin, 28 years old, said he was safe with his wife and newborn son. He, who is also in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, said that after the attack, many people died and “some people were screaming in pain because of their wounds.”
Medecins Sans Frontieres said the aid organization had treated 39 people who had crossed from Myanmar to Bangladesh for violence-related injuries, including injuries from mortar fire and gunshot wounds on Saturday (10/8). A number of patients also said they saw people being bombed while trying to find a boat to cross the river. A spokesperson for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said the agency was aware of refugee deaths resulting from the capsizing of two boats in the Bay of Bengal. They had also heard reports of civilian deaths in Maungdaw but could not confirm the actual number or circumstances.