YANGON: Myanmar's army said on Sunday (Sep 24) it had discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of 28 Hindus, including women and children, in violence-wracked Rakhine state, blaming the killings on Muslim Rohingya militants. The announcement could not be independently verified in an region that has been seized by communal violence since Rohingya militant raids on August 25 triggered a sweeping security crackdown. Security members found and dug up 28 dead bodies of Hindus who were cruelly violently and killed by ARSA extremist Bengali terrorists in Rakhine State," a statement posted on the Myanmar army chiefs website said, reports AFP. The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) is the group whose raids on police posts in August triggered a military backlash that resulted in hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing for Bangladesh. Some 30,000 Hindus and Buddhists based in the area have also been displaced, with some saying were terrorised by Rohingya militants. The army said that security officers found a total of 20 dead women and eight men in two graves, including six boys under the age of ten. Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed the grim discovery to AFP, as did a senior police officer in Rakhine who requested anonymity. The village where the army chief said the bodies were found, Ye Baw Kya, is near a cluster of Hindu and Muslim communities in northern Rakhine called Kha Maung Seik.
A mass grave of 28 Hindus, including children, allegedly slain by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, is discovered by the Myanmar Army.