Abandoned Rakhine homes in Buthidaung torched during war

 The residents, who fled from Buthidaung township in Rakhine State, stated that many houses belonging to Rakhine people were demolished and torched by the junta forces. They took help from  ARSA members and armed Muslims, who had completed military training.

A Buthidaung resident informed Narinjara News that since 14 April, a group of Muslim supporters from the  junta along with ARSA members and trained Muslims vandalised many houses in the township.

"All our houses were burned down. Shops were broken and then set on fire. Now, the abandoned Rakhine houses are being burnt. They have not targeted the Muslim-owned houses and shops. We're at a loss for words," added the resident.

A woman, who fled from Buthidaung, said that her house was destroyed. She demands justice for the loss.

"As I fled my house was also burnt down. I did not expect it," she added.

On 14 April in Buthidaung, the residents reported that radical Muslims set 50 Rakhine houses on fire. Even the office cum residence of former Pyithu Hluttaw representative U Aung Thaung Shwe was not spared.

On 15 April, the Doctors Without Borders (Medicines Sans Frontiers) issued a statement revealing that over 200 houses were burned down  in Buthidaung locality. Even the office and medical storage of  MSF was targeted.

On 11 April, bodies of two 30-year-old youths (who were murdered in Buthidaung) were recovered. The residents claimed that the junta soldiers and radical Muslims were involved in religious and ethnic clashes in the locality.

The local residents informed that only those  houses belonging to Muslims and Buthidaung Myoma market areas were not destroyed, but hundreds of Rakhine houses have already been burnt down.