The Arakan Army (AA) said captured junta commander Brigadier General Thurein Tun was responsible for war crimes in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State and would be punished accordingly.
“We will investigate him thoroughly and ensure he receives a fitting punishment for crimes he has committed,” said Khaing Thukha, the ethnic armed organization’s spokesman.
On Sunday, the AA captured the military regime’s Border Guard Police Battalion No. 5, the last junta battalion defending Maungdaw, a border town on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in Rakhine State.
Some 700 junta soldiers were deployed at the battalion commanded by Brig-Gen Thurein Tun, the commander of the 15th Military Operations Command (MOC) previously based in Buthidaung. Thurein Tun fled with a small group of soldiers including his personal assistant before the battalion fell, but they were captured by the AA.
After Buthidaung Township fell to the AA in May, Thurein Tun relocated what remained of the 15th MOC to Maungdaw. From his base at Border Guard Police Battalion No. 5, he mustered troops including Muslim conscripts to try and repulse the AA’s offensive.
As AA forces closed in on the police battalion, Thurein Tun shot some of his own soldiers who were preparing to surrender, according to Khaing Thukha.
“Some soldiers and border police wanted to surrender, but their commander Thurein Tun shot dead some troops preparing to surrender. So, they couldn’t surrender and were trapped inside the battalion,” the AA spokesman said.
Thurein Tun attended Officer Training School as part of its 22nd intake and became an operational commander at Central Command based in Mandalay after the 2021 coup.
Then a colonel, he took a leading role in the junta’s crackdown on anti-coup protesters, the arrest and torture of dissidents in interrogation camps, and the prosecution and imprisonment of them, according to strike committees.
He was later promoted to brigadier general and became commander of the 15th MOC. He is alleged to be the key person responsible for forcibly conscripting, training and arming Rohingya in Maungdaw, intimidating Rohingya residents to stage protests against the AA, and inciting racial hatred by spreading false news.
Deputy Human Rights Minister U Aung Kyaw Moe of the parallel National Unity Government said: “Thurein Tun systematically plotted to complicate the situation in northern Rakhine and increase tensions between two communities. He made many Rohingya young men undergo military training through persuasion and intimidation. He trained and armed criminal gangs among the Rohingya, including those involved in theft, drug trafficking, and human smuggling, to complicate the situation in Rakhine State.”
Khaing Thukha said AA troops are still pursuing fleeing Rohingya insurgents including members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, Arakan Rohingya Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organization who fought alongside regime forces in Maungdaw.
