Six Myanmar border guard police have been wounded in <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/new-myanmar-unrest-panics-rohingya-in-border-limbo-189193">an attack by Rohingya Muslim insurgents</a> in Rakhine state, government media reported on Saturday, amid fears of escalating violence in the region.

About 10 armed attackers from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) ambushed a border guard post near Wet Kyein village in Maungdaw township in the north of the state on Wednesday, according to the government-controlled Myanmar TV network.

A government spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Rakhine has been roiled by violence for weeks since fighting broke out between security forces and another armed group, the Arakan Army (AA).

The AA, which pre-dates ARSA, is a rebel group dominated by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists that has been fighting for autonomy for the western state for around a decade.

ARSA, which emerged with attacks on border posts in 2016, is focused on winning rights for Rohingya, the mostly stateless Muslim minority long persecuted in Myanmar.

Some 5,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes in the recent violence, according to the United Nations.

A crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in Buddhist-majority Rakhine in 2017 triggered an exodus of about 730,000 Rohingya refugees to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The United Nations and Western governments denounced the military operations as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar has said it was conducting a legitimate offensive against insurgents.

Earlier reports had attributed an attack on Wednesday in the same area to the AA, but an official with the Maungdaw border guard police said ARSA, which had previously attacked the security forces, was responsible.

"At first, it was a preliminary investigation, but now it is sure," Police Lieutenant-Colonel Tin Han Lin told Reuters.

On Friday, Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, voiced alarm at the "escalating violence" in Rakhine, and urged both sides to show restraint and protect civilians.

Rakhine has been roiled by violence for weeks since fighting broke out between security forces and another armed group, the Arakan Army (AA).

Six Myanmar border guard police have been wounded in an attack by Rohingya Muslim insurgents in Rakhine state, government media reported on Saturday, amid fears of escalating violence in the region. About 10 armed attackers from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) ambushed a border guard post near Wet Kyein village in Maungdaw township in the north of the state on Wednesday, according to the government-controlled Myanmar TV network. A government spokesman could not be reached for comment. Rakhine has been roiled by violence for weeks since fighting broke out between security forces and another armed group, the Arakan Army (AA). The AA, which pre-dates ARSA, is a rebel group dominated by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists that has been fighting for autonomy for the western state for around a decade. ARSA, which emerged with attacks on border posts in 2016, is focused on winning rights for Rohingya, the mostly stateless Muslim minority long persecuted in Myanmar. Some 5,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes in the recent violence, according to the United Nations. A crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in Buddhist-majority Rakhine in 2017 triggered an exodus of about 730,000 Rohingya refugees to neighbouring Bangladesh. The United Nations and Western governments denounced the military operations as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar has said it was conducting a legitimate offensive against insurgents. Earlier reports had attributed an attack on Wednesday in the same area to the AA, but an official with the Maungdaw border guard police said ARSA, which had previously attacked the security forces, was responsible. "At first, it was a preliminary investigation, but now it is sure," Police Lieutenant-Colonel Tin Han Lin told Reuters. On Friday, Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, voiced alarm at the "escalating violence" in Rakhine, and urged both sides to show restraint and protect civilians.

Rohingya insurgents attack police in western Myanmar, six wounded

Deeply concerned over the Amnesty International report on the alleged killing of Hindu villagers by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the US on Friday said there was an urgent need for a credible and independent investigation into the human rights violations in Myanmar's restive Rakhine province.

"We are deeply concerned by Amnesty's report on the killing of Hindu villagers by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Accountability for all those responsible for human rights abuses and violations in northern Rakhine state remains critical," a US State Department spokesperson told PTI.

He said the report further highlights the urgent need for a credible and independent investigation in Rakhine state to further determine all facts on the ground to fix accountability and provide justice to victims. "The United States continues to support such an investigation," the spokesperson said.

In its report early this week, the Amnesty International said a Rohingya armed group brandishing guns and swords was responsible for at least one, and potentially a second, massacre of up to 99 Hindu women, men and children as well as additional unlawful killings and abductions of Hindu villagers in August 2017.

"At around 8 am on 25 August 2017, ARSA attacked the Hindu community in the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, in a cluster of villages known as Kha Maung Seik in northern Maungdaw Township. At the time of the attack, the Hindu villagers lived in close proximity to Rohingya villagers, who are predominantly Muslim. Rakhine villagers, who are predominantly Buddhist, also lived in the same area," Amnesty said in its latest report.

In a statement Burma Task Force, a coalition of 19 US and Canadian Muslim organisations, slammed the Amnesty International for "such a report".

"It is a major public relations bonanza for the genocidal Burmese regime. It puts 60,000 Rohingyas in India even at more risk than they already are," it said.

"The Amnesty International report presents, as fact, evidence and conclusions that are both seriously questionable, and by doing so it aids the propaganda efforts of a regime whose every action suggests it is bent on carrying out genocide," the task force said.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorisation Act 2019, which addresses the issue of alleged ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. &nbsp"This provision imposes new sanctions on Burmese military officials and bars their forces from US joint drills," Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said. &nbsp

Over the past year, the Burmese military has escalated its decades-long campaign against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority. More than 7,00,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee and thousands have been slaughtered. Entire villages have been burned and bulldozed, he said.&nbsp

There was an urgent need for a credible and independent investigation into the human rights violations in Myanmar's restive Rakhine province, US said

Deeply concerned over the Amnesty International report on the alleged killing of Hindu villagers by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the US on Friday said there was an urgent need for a credible and independent investigation into the human rights violations in Myanmar's restive Rakhine province. "We are deeply concerned by Amnesty's report on the killing of Hindu villagers by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Accountability for all those responsible for human rights abuses and violations in northern Rakhine state remains critical," a US State Department spokesperson told PTI. He said the report further highlights the urgent need for a credible and independent investigation in Rakhine state to further determine all facts on the ground to fix accountability and provide justice to victims. "The United States continues to support such an investigation," the spokesperson said. In its report early this week, the Amnesty International said a Rohingya armed group brandishing guns and swords was responsible for at least one, and potentially a second, massacre of up to 99 Hindu women, men and children as well as additional unlawful killings and abductions of Hindu villagers in August 2017. "At around 8 am on 25 August 2017, ARSA attacked the Hindu community in the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, in a cluster of villages known as Kha Maung Seik in northern Maungdaw Township. At the time of the attack, the Hindu villagers lived in close proximity to Rohingya villagers, who are predominantly Muslim. Rakhine villagers, who are predominantly Buddhist, also lived in the same area," Amnesty said in its latest report. In a statement Burma Task Force, a coalition of 19 US and Canadian Muslim organisations, slammed the Amnesty International for "such a report". "It is a major public relations bonanza for the genocidal Burmese regime. It puts 60,000 Rohingyas in India even at more risk than they already are," it said. "The Amnesty International report presents, as fact, evidence and conclusions that are both seriously questionable, and by doing so it aids the propaganda efforts of a regime whose every action suggests it is bent on carrying out genocide," the task force said. Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorisation Act 2019, which addresses the issue of alleged ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. "This provision imposes new sanctions on Burmese military officials and bars their forces from US joint drills," Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said. Over the past year, the Burmese military has escalated its decades-long campaign against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority. More than 7,00,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee and thousands have been slaughtered. Entire villages have been burned and bulldozed, he said.

US seeks credible investigation into killing of Hindus by ARSA in Myanmar

Campaign group Amnesty International said on Tuesday it had gathered evidence that insurgents from a Rohingya Muslim armed group killed scores of Hindu civilians in August last year, amid a surge in violence in western Myanmar.

A military response to insurgent attacks on 30 police posts and an army base in northern Rakhine state the early hours of Aug. 25 pushed almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims across the border to Bangladesh, many accusing security forces of killings, rape and arson.

Senior UN&nbsp;officials have said the response amounted to ethnic cleansing and that Myanmar's security forces may have committed genocide.

Amnesty International's research is the first published by an international human rights group to document in detail alleged atrocities by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

It said masked ARSA fighters killed as many as 99 Hindus near a remote village named Kha Maung Seik shortly after launching the coordinated attacks on security posts.

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Amnesty International cited witnesses including eight Hindu women who alleged they were abducted by ARSA fighters and forced to convert to Islam. Some of the women had earlier told media including Reuters that their loved ones were killed by Buddhists, but later recanted their stories, saying they had been coerced by their captors.

Myanmar is majority Buddhist, and the Rohingya are Muslim. The country also has a Christian minority and a smaller number of Hindus.

Myanmar authorities in September unearthed 45 bodies near Kha Maung Seik and accused the ARSA of carrying out the killings.

Reuters was unable to reach an ARSA representative for comment on Tuesday. ARSA said in a Sept. 27 statement it "categorically denies that any of its members or combatants perpetrated murder" and other abuses in villages including Kha Maung Seik.

Myanmar's main government spokesman Zaw Htay said he could not comment on Tuesday evening as he had not seen the report.

Amnesty International also said it had documented a separate killing of six Hindus by ARSA fighters on Aug. 26 near the town of Maungdaw.

“It’s hard to ignore the sheer brutality of ARSA’s actions, which have left an indelible impression on the survivors we’ve spoken to," Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International's crisis response director, said in a statement.

"Accountability for these atrocities is every bit as crucial as it is for the crimes against humanity carried out by Myanmar’s security forces in northern Rakhine State."

ARSA emerged as a group with earlier attacks on border posts in 2016. Its leader, Ata Ullah, has said it is fighting for the rights of the Rohingya, who have long complained of persecution as a stateless minority in Myanmar.

Reporters have been unable freely to visit parts of northern Rakhine for more than 18 months.

"After careful review of evidence obtained in Bangladesh and Rakhine State, Amnesty International has concluded that ARSA fighters are responsible for the massacre," Amnesty said, calling for Myanmar to grant U.N. investigators access to the conflict area to document atrocities by both ARSA and the military.

Amnesty said masked Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army fighters killed as many as 99 Hindus near a remote Myanmarese village named Kha Maung Seik

Campaign group Amnesty International said on Tuesday it had gathered evidence that insurgents from a Rohingya Muslim armed group killed scores of Hindu civilians in August last year, amid a surge in violence in western Myanmar. A military response to insurgent attacks on 30 police posts and an army base in northern Rakhine state the early hours of Aug. 25 pushed almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims across the border to Bangladesh, many accusing security forces of killings, rape and arson. Senior UN officials have said the response amounted to ethnic cleansing and that Myanmar's security forces may have committed genocide. Amnesty International's research is the first published by an international human rights group to document in detail alleged atrocities by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). It said masked ARSA fighters killed as many as 99 Hindus near a remote village named Kha Maung Seik shortly after launching the coordinated attacks on security posts. Amnesty International cited witnesses including eight Hindu women who alleged they were abducted by ARSA fighters and forced to convert to Islam. Some of the women had earlier told media their loved ones were killed by Buddhists, but later recanted their stories, saying they had been coerced by their captors × Amnesty International cited witnesses including eight Hindu women who alleged they were abducted by ARSA fighters and forced to convert to Islam. Some of the women had earlier told media including Reuters that their loved ones were killed by Buddhists, but later recanted their stories, saying they had been coerced by their captors. Myanmar is majority Buddhist, and the Rohingya are Muslim. The country also has a Christian minority and a smaller number of Hindus. Myanmar authorities in September unearthed 45 bodies near Kha Maung Seik and accused the ARSA of carrying out the killings. Reuters was unable to reach an ARSA representative for comment on Tuesday. ARSA said in a Sept. 27 statement it "categorically denies that any of its members or combatants perpetrated murder" and other abuses in villages including Kha Maung Seik. Myanmar's main government spokesman Zaw Htay said he could not comment on Tuesday evening as he had not seen the report. Amnesty International also said it had documented a separate killing of six Hindus by ARSA fighters on Aug. 26 near the town of Maungdaw. “It’s hard to ignore the sheer brutality of ARSA’s actions, which have left an indelible impression on the survivors we’ve spoken to," Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International's crisis response director, said in a statement. "Accountability for these atrocities is every bit as crucial as it is for the crimes against humanity carried out by Myanmar’s security forces in northern Rakhine State." ARSA emerged as a group with earlier attacks on border posts in 2016. Its leader, Ata Ullah, has said it is fighting for the rights of the Rohingya, who have long complained of persecution as a stateless minority in Myanmar. Reporters have been unable freely to visit parts of northern Rakhine for more than 18 months. "After careful review of evidence obtained in Bangladesh and Rakhine State, Amnesty International has concluded that ARSA fighters are responsible for the massacre," Amnesty said, calling for Myanmar to grant U.N. investigators access to the conflict area to document atrocities by both ARSA and the military.

Rohingya militants killed Hindu villagers in Myanmar: Amnesty International

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