My name is U Hla Maung,

from the Tamathar Group,

Tet Kyine Nya Village,
Maungdaw Township,
Rakhine State, Myanmar
Interviewed at refugee camp in Sittwe,
September 27, 2017

I am from the Thet ethnicity.

One night (August 25, 2017) a huge mob of

Bengalis stormed into our village, setting our
houses on fire. We had to unexpectedly run
for safety.

We ran to the security outpost in Tamathar Group and when we arrived there were
already people from 4 other villages, protected by the few security police. Then the
Bengalis came and surrounded all of us, shouting loudly that they were going to attack
the security outpost, and all of us in it.

They had their arms high in the air with their weapons displayed. So, we were so afraid
of being attacked, and some of us ran out the other side to Kyine Chaung Village.

I am old, and my legs are bad, but I just had to run in pain or be slaughtered. As we
were running from the Bengalis two Hindu villagers and one Deignet villager were
caught and killed. The Bengalis were burning and destroying all of our homes. The
Bengalis were also burning their own village homes.

If there is no security we can not go back to our villages. If the government can't
provide safety then I'll just die here, because otherwise I will be killed by Bengalis.

Interviewed by Rick Heizman 25 rick@rickhiezmanreality.com

 I am U Tun Shwe,
Village Administrator
of Nant Thar Taung Village,
Kun Thee Pin Village Tract,
Maungdaw Township,
Rakhine State, Myanmar
interviewed in refugee camp in Maungdaw,
September 30, 2017

It was around 3:30 AM of August 25 that Bengali

Muslim terrorists came to our village and attacked
the police outpost until 6:00 AM. One BGP (Border
Guard) policeman was killed.

We fled from our village around 3:00 PM and it took 4 hours to arrive in Taung Pyo
Town, because the roads had landmines that the Bengalis put there.

And, they set fire to 41 households, our Buddhist monastery, and the Charity Education
Center building in our village. We saw this with our own eyes from a hill. We arrived to
Taung Pyo around 6:30 without food. We stayed there for about 15 days. Then we came
to Maungdaw town on September 10.

It is not possible for us to live together with these Bengalis anymore. This is an invasive
war to occupy Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung and create a separate Islamic
land. If we live together again, these Bengalis will do this kind of violence again and
again. So, it is not possible to live together with Bengali Muslims.

Interviewed by Rick Heizman 28 rick@rickhiezmanreality.com

 I am U Tun Phyu,
from Thar Yar Kone Village,
Maungdaw, Township,
Rakhine State, Myanmar
Interviewed in refugee camp in Maungdaw,
September 30, 2017

We are very poor people from a poor village.

It was August 25, we heard Bengali terrorists attacked

the police outposts. In the morning, the villagers
gathered and we were concerned as we learned about
what was happening. We heard that some policemen
were killed. There were eight policemen in our village.
But later, they were transferred to another police
outpost.

So we were without security, and we decided to leave the village and head to Taung Pyo
Town. All the villagers including children and elders went to Taung Pyo on foot. Older
people who could not walk were carried. It took 6 hours.

I did not flee that day because I have cows for breeding. I was on a nearby hill and was
watching our village. It was a Friday around 4:00 PM, and a young Bengali from
nearby Moju village, named Gura Myar, and two other unknown Bengalis took two
dozens of our cows. The Bengalis took all the rice we had, there was nothing left.
They broke and destroyed many things in our village, even the monastery was
destroyed.

Question: Did they burn or destroy things?

Answer: Not burned, they destroyed everything.

They destroyed houses, cooking pots and everything. They also destroyed the brick wall
of the monastery, glass windows, and even Buddha statues.

Interviewed by Rick Heizman 29 rick@rickhiezmanreality.com

 My name is Ko Ba Aye,
I founded a relief group called
Rakhine Amyothar Organization (ARG)
Our camp is 6 miles south of Maungdaw,
Rakhine State, Myanmar
Interviewed in Maungdaw,
September 29, 2017

Over there is Kha Ray Myaing Village of

Maungdaw Township. The police outpost is
between the village and the monastery.

That village, Du Chee Ya Tan is where Sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein was murdered in 2014.
Puddles of his blood were found inside the mosque and some of his equipment was also
found nearby.
On the evening of August 26, 2017, around 5:30 PM, in the rice fields in front of Du
Chee Ya Tan village, many Bengalis gathered, fired guns, and did some loud war dances.

After that, around 6:30 PM, many Bengalis with uniforms from Nu Ru Lar Bengali village
came and joined the mob and then attacked the Kha Ray Mying police outpost around
7:00 PM.

The fighting was very intense and army troops arrived as back up around 9:00 PM. If
they didn't come, the police outpost would have been defeated.

The Bengalis retreated later, but gunfire was still heard until midnight.

It was early 2016 in August or September, an ethnic Mro teacher from Tha Yat Oak (Mro)
village was murdered. Then the Mro villagers abandoned the village and moved to the
east of Shwe Ba Ho Village, and started living there in a new village - Kin Chaung.

Rakhine local civilians informed and warned the authorities again and again that Bengali
extremists and terrorists were in the mountains, but the authorities did not believe that.
They did not believe that so many Bengalis were hiding and training in the mountains.
They were very wrong.

Interviewed by Rick Heizman 22 rick@rickhiezmanreality.com