KALADAN NEWS

Dated: Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Burmese Army killed a Traveler at Maungdaw-Buthidaung Road

Buthidaung,Dec.16: Burmese army killed a Rohingya traveler at Maungdaw-Buthidaung road on 19th November 2003, according to our corresponedent.

The victim, Mohammad Toyub son of Maqtul Hussein, 39, hails from Ward No.4 of Buthidaung town, Arakan State, he further said.

On that day, at around 11:00 am, he was going to Maungdaw by bus from his residence to visit his relatives there. On the way the bus was stopped and put down all the passengers by army personnel at 10 miles distance from Maungdaw town as the road was covered with huge clod and stones by collapsing hillside, said a passenger who was accompanied by the victim.

These clod and stones were moving by some soldiers from Battalion No. 234 and villagers from the village of three miles of Maungdaw town while the bus reached there. The soldiers also asked the passengers to share works with them, but the victim was pretending not to hear the voice of the army. This makes one of the soldiers angry and stroked to the victim’s neck with an iron rod. As a result, he fell down and became unconscious as his arteries of the neck were cut off and gushing blood from his mouth and noses, he further added.

Afterwards, a leading commander of this group ordered some passengers to send the victim quickly for medical treatment but he died on the way to the hospital of Buthidaung town.

Later on, some relatives of the victim put up the matter to the Commander of the Battalion No. 234 and concerned police station but they simply ordered the villagers to bury the dead body without taking autopsy. However, the culprit was exempted from any punishment. # #

N.B: The persons who made the statements to our correspondent live inside Burma and requested to withhold their names for fearing of persecution.