Photo shows the place where the incident took place along the the Kalatan River course. - Image from Eleven Media Group/ANN
YANGON (Eleven Media Group/ANN): The Myanmar junta has confirmed that the Arakan Army (AA) group reportedly attacked three ships, carrying military personnel and their family members who were leaving Kyauktaw Township in Rakhine State, with drop bombs.
Some of the ships, which included women and children, sank during the attacks on Feb 8.
The survivors swam to the shore, where they faced gunfire from the AA group and knife attacks from some villagers along the Kalatan River from Kyauktaw to Sittwe. According to some reports, the total number of casualties among the military and their families, including children, ranged closed to to 900.
The incident was hard to verify independently, but based on information obtained by Eleven Media Group, the reports are accurate and there might have been around 700 to 900 deaths, including women and children.
The Arakan Army group issued a regular statement of Operation 1027 on February 8, saying that they had sunk three military landing craft on February 7 and 8. They also said that they had attacked those who fled on the warships and refused to surrender until no one was left in the river.
Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the AA group, told the BBC news agency that the report of the military families being killed on the shore was false. He said that the prisoners of war captured in the incident were treated according to the Prisoner of War Act and the rules of captivity. He did not disclose the number of arrests, saying that it was still under investigation.
However, he did not answer the question of whether the Arakan Army group had pursued and killed those who did not surrender on the ship, as they had stated.
Regarding the above incident, neither the military nor the State Administration Council released any information about the Kyauktaw incident and the sinking of three ships, which reportedly killed 700 to 900 people, as of the evening of February 11.
The incident involved the evacuation of family members of the military and police, including women and children, from Kyauktaw by three boats. The killing of women and children who swam ashore for their lives after three landing craft carrying nearly 900 personnel were hit and sunk raised questions about human rights.
Some have called for an international investigation into the mass killings of civilians. - Eleven Media Group/ANN
