February 3, 2018
The Associated Press (AP) has released details confirming the existence of at least five separate mass graves.
The report by the news agency on Thursday includes witness testimonies from two dozen survivors and relatives of victims, as well as mobile phone footage showing the aftermath of the attack. One site is confirmed to be at Gudam Para of Southern Buthidaung when military rained bullets on a group of Rohingya youngsters preparing for a game of chinlone, according to reports in the international media. Only two of them survived the military ambush.
According to our sources who fled the massacre at Gudam Para and currently residing in Bangladesh, there are at least three more mass graves from a military operation that took place on August 27 last year. At least 200 soldiers accompanied by Mogh vigilantes attacked Gudam Para with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers without any warning. The vigilantes also cut the throats of many of the Rohingyas who were lying injured from the military gunfire. Casualties are likely to be in the hundreds, according to survivors.
The survivors hid for days before they started fleeing towards the direction of Bangladesh. Many lying injured were later rescued by the survivors often at the risk of their lives.
Pictures of mass graves were taken by residents of Gudam Para who went back to find their families almost a fortnight after the massacre.
Similar military operations took place that day in other villages in the Southern Buthidaung region including Taung Bazaar where hundreds were locked up in sheds and burned to death.
