February 2, 2018
Vigilantes from the Rakhine community backed by security forces have kept up arson attacks on Rohingya villages since last week, creating renewed panic in the village tracts almost deserted by the military operations of 2017.
On Tuesday at around 1am, at least eight houses of Shwe Zarr in Southern Maungdaw were set on fire by a group of Rakhines in plain clothes. The fire raged on for many hours. The village was earlier attacked during 2017 and much of the population has escaped to Bangladesh.
Earlier security forces set fire on houses in Sor Fodin Bil in Northern Maungdaw on Sunday. Only 12 families had remained in the village destroyed in 2017, but since Sunday’s arson attack, their whereabouts are unknown.
On the same day, miscreants set fire to Rohingya houses in Kepru of Buthidaung while in Ward 3 of Maundaw town, arson attacks took place two days earlier creating fears that the town which escaped the brunt of the violence could soon become targets for Buddhist extremist forces.
Continuous arson attacks have created a renewed atmosphere of terror and have left many Rohingyas wondering if the government wants to expel the few Rohingyas out of Arakan and make sure that the ancient homeland of the Muslim community remains devoid of its original inhabitants.
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