Four family members of retreating border guard police officers are presumed to have drowned after the boat they were fleeing in capsized off the coast of Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township late last week after coming under fire from the junta troops sent to rescue them, according to a video uploaded on social media.
The four people believed to have drowned are two wives of border guard police officers and two children, the border guard police officer narrating the video says.
He said the motorized boat they were in capsized during a rescue operation for officers and their family members retreating from two Border Guard Police Battalion bases near the border with Bangladesh.
He accused junta soldiers of deliberately shooting at boats transporting retreating police and their wives and children to a junta landing craft being used to carry them to the Mawyawaddy tactical command headquarters on a hilltop in Maungdaw Township.
Junta troops on the landing craft opened fire on two boats as they attempted to reach it. As the boats turned back, one capsized and two women and two children on it went missing, the officer said.
“We were retreating after receiving approval from the Mawyawaddy tactical command chief and our commander,” he explains. He said the motorized boats first transported high-ranking officers to the landing craft before being sent back for women, children and wounded police. “When we sent the remaining personnel, their wives and children and the injured, they fired shots at both boats. They didn’t allow us to get on the landing craft,” the police officer said.
It is believed that the incident happened before or on June 7 when the AA seized control of Border Guard Police Battalion No. 9.
AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha said the video clip shows that junta troops are “suffering from a loss of morale and unworthy leadership.” They had “lost their sense of humanity” and, as a result, left women and children behind. The video clip “clearly reflects the lack of sympathy among junta soldiers,” he said.
AA commander Major-General Twan Mrat Naing said he felt sympathy for the women and children.
Pro-junta Telegram channels claimed that the landing craft had temporarily lost contact with the retreating police because communications were down. The channels also claimed that troops on the landing craft only fired shots at AA soldiers pursuing the fleeing women and children, not the boat carrying them.
Khaing Thukha said this was false. AA troops were not pursuing the boats carrying women and children, he said.
The pro-junta Telegram channels also said 21 relatives of retreating border guard police were rescued from shore.
The AA has seized at least five other junta positions in Maungdaw Township. On Monday, it launched simultaneous attacks on four junta bases, including the major Mawyawaddy hilltop tactical command base, according to pro-junta Telegram channels.
