At least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state during the attacks in August

At least 6,700 Rohingya, including young kids, killed in August



PETALING JAYA: At least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state during the attacks in August, a survey by Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF) has found.

In a statement Thursday, MSF said the deaths, which included 730 children younger than five years old, were caused by violence.

These numbers are a conservative estimate, it said, citing a survey it conducted at refugee settlement camps.

In early November, MSF conducted six retrospective mortality surveys in different sections of refugee settlements in Bangladesh's Cox Bazar, interviewing a total of 608,108 people, of which 503,698 had fled Myanmar after Aug 25.


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The survey revealed that between Aug 25 and Sept 24, an estimated 9,000 Rohingya died, with 71.1%, or 6,700 deaths, due to violence.

Gunshots were the cause of death in 69% of the violence-related deaths, followed by being burnt to death in their houses (9%) and beaten to death (5%).

Among children below the age of five years, more than 59% killed were reportedly shot, 15% burnt to death in their homes, 7% beaten to death, and 2% died due to landmine blasts.

MSF added that since then, more than 647,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh.

MSF medical director Dr Sidney Wong said the peak in deaths coincides with the launch of the latest “clearance operations” by Myanmar security forces in the last week of August.

The survey findings showed that the Rohingya have been targeted, and are the clearest indication yet of the widespread violence that started on Aug 25 when the Myanmar military, police and local militias launched an operation in Rakhine in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

“The numbers of deaths are likely to be an underestimation as we have not surveyed all refugee settlements in Bangladesh, and because the surveys don’t account for the families who never made it out of Myanmar,” said Dr Wong.

“We heard reports of entire families who perished after they were locked inside their homes, which were set alight,” he added.

Dr Wong said people fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh and those who have not managed to cross the border are still being subjected to violence.

“With very few independent aid groups able to access Maungdaw district in Rakhine, we fear for the fate of the Rohingya people who are still there,” he added.


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