Video shows Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar

By Dildar Baykan

ANKARA (AA) - Video footage released on social media on Wednesday has revealed eyewitness testimony of atrocities being endured by Rohingya Muslim civilians in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

In a video interview posted on the Arakan Times website, a Rohingya man describes what happened during operations carried out by the Myanmar military.

“They [military] shot dead my brother, my wife, my three kids, my nephew, my mother, and my sister... I had gone to pick up my belongings. God saved me, otherwise I would be dead,” the man, whose name was withheld, says in the recording.

“I saw that they [the military] burned my family after killing them,” he adds.

In footage obtained by Anadolu Agency, Rohingya civilians can be seen fleeing across a wide river, carrying whatever possessions they could salvage on their backs.

The footage shows several harrowing scenes, including the remains of a small child who died in the scramble to escape attack.

Another group of traumatized Rohingya civilians, including many children, can be seen praying en masse, many clearly emotional from their ordeal.

Deadly attacks on border posts in western Myanmar's Rakhine state broke out on Friday. Later, media reports emerged saying Myanmar security forces used disproportionate force and displaced thousands of Rohingya villagers, destroying homes with mortars and machine guns.

The region has seen simmering tension between its Buddhist and Muslim populations since communal violence broke out in 2012.