ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – A drone attack on Rohingya fleeing Myanmar killed dozens of people, including families with children, several witnesses said, describing survivors wandering between piles of bodies to identify dead and injured relatives.
Four witnesses, activists and a diplomat described drone attacks on August 5 that struck down families waiting to cross the border into Bangladesh.
A heavily pregnant woman and her two-year-old daughter were among the victims in the attack, the single deadliest known assault on civilians in Rakhine state during recent weeks of fighting between junta troops and rebels.
Three of the witnesses told the media on August 9 that the Arakan Army was responsible, allegations the group denied. The militia and Myanmar’s military blamed each other. The media could not verify how many people had died in the attack or independently determine responsibility.
Videos posted on social media showed piles of bodies strewn across muddy ground, their suitcases and backpacks scattered around them. Three survivors said more than 200 had died, while a witness to the aftermath said he had seen at least 70 bodies.
The media verified the location of the videos as just outside the coastal Myanmar town of Maungdaw.
One witness, 35-year-old Mohammed Eleyas, said his pregnant wife and two-year-old daughter were wounded in the attack and later died. He was standing with them on the shoreline when drones began attacking the crowds, Eleyas told the media from a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
