Northern Buthidaung villages deserted as army steps up operations

Buthidaung- Residents are fleeing Shab Bazaar and So Parang village tracts as military has engaged in mass rapes and lootings in the area, according to our correspondent in Buthidaung.

Communications have been difficult as everyone including our local correspondent is on the run due to recent ‘clearance operations’ in the area.

According to testimonies of refugees arriving in Bangladesh from the remote areas of Buthdiaung, many people in the remote Northern regions of the township including infant children have been killed in recent weeks. Most of the cases have gone undocumented.

While the men in the area have been living in the hill for days to escape arrest and torture, repeated cases of rape and sexual assault have now forced all the women and children to take shelter in the hills.

The advent of the monsoon season is making the situation even more difficult for those hiding out in the hills.