“A small piece of shrapnel hit my son and killed him”: Rohingya refugee talks about fears of an intensifying Myanmar conflict

I never really wanted to come to Bangladesh.

I lost my youngest son in a bomb explosion on August 1st while he was playing outside the house. He was 4 years old and one of the most popular members of the family. He was playing with his siblings and, as the youngest, was unable to run when the sound of the bomb was heard. The bomb fell near our house, a small piece of shrapnel hit my son and killed him. We left the village after performing the funeral rites and burying him. I'm not sure who fired it – whether it was the Myanmar military or the Arakan Army (AA).

“I have nothing left to give you”

After my son was killed, I sent my wife and the other children to Bangladesh with their mother's family. They got a boat and sailed to Bangladesh. However, they were caught in the sea by robbers who took all their belongings.

Some male survivors on the boat were beaten and threatened. The robbers held a knife to my wife's neck shortly after she was captured. She tried to explain: “I lost everything, including my son, and I fled violence to save my life. I have nothing left to give you.” But they didn’t listen. They snatched her cell phone, took her jewelry and demanded her bag, which contained her clothes.

The family spent the entire night and the next day on the boat without food before finally reaching Bangladesh in the evening.

Growing dangers in Myanmar

I sent my father's family [to Bangladesh] on August 5th, the day after I sent my wife and children. I was hoping the fighting would calm down so I could bring her back to Myanmar.

The situation had become very dangerous. On August 6, the Arakan Army entered our village and relocated all Hindu and Buddhist families to a safe area. Then they started causing trouble [using it as a base to launch attacks] in the village, which forced us, the Muslim families, to leave on August 7th. We were the only ethnic group in the village. It seemed like they did this on purpose.

I also saw conscripted Rohingya fighting alongside the Myanmar military. The AA was [also] They were able to draft the Rohingya because they recruited them all from the rural areas where the people in those villages could not disobey the AA's orders.

“If you don’t leave, we’ll shoot you.”

My remaining relatives and I left our village and went to the city center [in Maungdaw]Seeking refuge. The AA came downtown and ordered people to leave. There were only a few families left. The AA members came to us and threatened: “If you don’t leave immediately, we will shoot you.”

On the morning of August 15th, I witnessed the AA killing a woman instantly with gunfire as she went to a pond to fetch water… There was another man sitting smoking outside his house and he too was shot dead in his head and killed.

The next morning we left the city on foot around 9am. We were part of a group of about 150 people. However, when we tried to get to the border, the AA blocked the road. They told us, “You can’t go today. Go back where you came from and stay in any house you like.”

All roads were blocked by the Arakan Army

We spent the night covering our mouths and noses because there were bodies everywhere. We couldn't sleep properly and had to endure this for five days as all the roads were closed by the AA.

The AA conducted investigations and identified people who had joined the Myanmar military. One day when I was in a tea shop with a friend, the AA came in and called my friend away. I haven't heard from him since. I have no idea if he is still alive or if he was killed.

[Myanmar military] Warplanes flew over the village where we were stuck for five days, and we could hear the sounds of massive explosions in the surrounding villages. I figured if a bomb hit one of the houses here, we would die in groups.

Before we ran out of money we decided to leave. The boat left at 10 p.m. They kept us on an island for two hours. A group of men came with weapons. I thought they were Rohingya, they were demanding money. I asked who they were, they said: “Shut up, keep quiet.” The boatman negotiated with them and paid.

“I don’t want to be in Myanmar at all”

I arrived in Bangladesh on August 25th. We reached a house and suddenly the light of a flashlight shone. It was the border guards. We ran, found a pit and hid there [until it was safe to come out].

All my surviving family members including my father's family are here in Bangladesh now but we don't live in one place as we don't have our own accommodation. We live with relatives.

My last request, since we are not sure here and there: I would like to move to a third country. I don't want to be in Myanmar at all now.

*This statement has been edited for length and clarity. Amnesty's full findings, including the Arakan Army's response to the allegations, can be found here.