UPDATES NUMBER OF DEAD, ARMED MAN CAPTURED
By Kyaw Ye Lynn
YANGON, Myanmar (AA) – At least nine policemen and five armed men have been killed in three separate attacks on police station outposts on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in western Rakhine State, according to a government official and local media Sunday.
At around 3.a.m (2130GMT Saturday), attackers armed with rifles, knives and explosives stormed three Border Guard Police Force stations in Rakhine’s Maungdaw and Yathay Taung Townships — areas predominantly occupied by the country’s stateless Rohingya Muslim population.
“As far as we know, nine policemen were killed in the attacks, and two are still missing,” Min Aung, spokesperson for the Rakhine regional government, told Anadolu Agency by phone Sunday .
“An attacker was caught alive,” he said, adding that the number of militants killed was still to be confirmed.
“We also can’t verify what group the attackers are from. We just know they are armed Bengali,” he said, using a word to describe the Rohingya that suggests they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
According to a Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) online report citing an unnamed police officer in the region, the bodies of five militants were found after the attacks.
“We caught one RSO militant alive,” the officer was quoted as saying, referring to the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) — a shadowy outfit that takes its name from the Rohingya, who have been described by the United Nations as one of the world’s most persecuted minority groups.
Although most experts believe the RSO’s existence is a myth, the government has classified it as a terrorist group and officials blame it for recent attacks on border areas.
