YANGON, Myanmar: Rohingya militants have set fire to houses in Rakhine state in recent days to intensify the exodus of the Muslim minority, the office of Myanmar’s commander-in-chief said Thursday, in an apparent rebuke to fresh accusations of arson by the army.
More than 500,000 Muslim Rohingya have run from communal bloodshed in Myanmar in the last six weeks and numbers are again rising.
This week Bangladesh reported 4-5,000 civilians crossing the border each day after a brief lull in arrivals, with 10,000 more waiting at a frontier area.
Rohingya who have made it to Bangladesh allege the spurt in arrivals follows a redoubled campaign of intimidation and arson by Myanmar’s army in parts of Rakhine which were still home to Muslim communities.
But a post on the Facebook page of the office of army chief Min Aung Hlaing said blazes at seven houses in a Rohingya village early Wednesday were started by an “Einu” or a militant from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).
Security forces “working for the rule of law” in Mi Chaung Zay in Buthidaung township helped villagers extinguish the fires which “broke out about 2:40am on October 4th,” the post said.
Accusing “ARSA extremist terrorist” Einu, the statement said he had been “urging people to run” from Rohingya villages to Bangladesh.
The refugee crisis erupted after ARSA raids on Myanmar police posts on August 25.
Refugees who have made it to Bangladesh accuse Myanmar’s army — flanked by mobs of ethnic Rakhine — of slaughtering them and burning their villages.
Rights groups say satellite data provides evidence of a systematic ‘scorched earth’ campaign targeting Rohingya villages — an act the UN says is tantamount to “ethnic cleansing.”
But Myanmar’s army has denied burning Rohingya villages and consistently accused militants of razing their own homes before fleeing to drum up global support for their cause.
The battery of competing claims is impossible to check independently because the conflict-wracked area of Rakhine is under an army lockdown.
Since the crisis began media and international NGOs have only been given highly controlled access on officially-steered visits.
Myanmar denies the Rohingya citizenship, describing them as “Bengali” interlopers.
It is a well received view inside Myanmar, where the public has shown little sympathy for the Rohingya, lavishing unexpected support on an army that once ruled the country with an iron fist.
Rohingya started new Rakhine fires: Myanmar army chief office
Rohingya started new Rakhine fires: Myanmar army chief office
Two high-speed trains derail in Spain, broadcaster reports seven people killed
- The accident happened near Adamuz, which is near Cordoba
MADRID: Two high-speed trains derailed on Sunday in southern Spain, the rail network operator said, and state-run television channel RTVE said seven people had died, citing police sources.
The accident happened near Adamuz, in Cordoba province. Seven people have been confirmed dead by police, RTVE said, adding that 100 people have been injured, 25 seriously.
Spanish police did not immediately respond to request for comment from Reuters.
“The Iryo 6189 Malaga — (to Madrid) train has derailed from the track at Adamuz, crashing onto the adjacent track. The (Madrid) to Huelva train which was traveling on the adjacent track has also derailed,” said Adif, which runs the rail network, in a social media post.
Adif said the accident happened at 6:40 p.m. (1740 GMT), about ten minutes after the Iryo train left Cordoba heading toward Madrid.
Iryo is a private rail operator, majority-owned by Italian state-controlled railway group Ferrovie dello Stato. The train involved was a Freccia 1000 train which was traveling between Malaga and Madrid, a spokesperson for Ferrovie dello Stato said.
Iryo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Adif has suspended all rail services between Madrid and Andalusia.
Andalusia emergency services said on social media that all rail traffic had been halted and emergency services were on their way, including at least nine ambulances and emergency support vehicles.
CALLS FOR MEDICS
A woman named Carmen posted on X that she had been on board the Iryo to Madrid. “Ten minutes after departing (from Cordoba) the train started to shake a lot, and it derailed from coach 6 behind us. The lights went out.”
Footage posted by another Iryo train passenger, also on X, showed an Iryo staffer in a fluorescent jacket instructing passengers to remain in their seats in the darkened carriages, and those with first aid training to keep watch over fellow passengers.
The staffer told passengers they would be evacuated when it was safe to leave, but at that moment the safest place was on the train. He also urged people to maintain mobile phone batteries to be able to use their torches when they disembarked.
The passenger wrote: “In our carriage we’re well but we don’t know about the other carriages. There’s smoke and they’re calling for a doctor.”
The regional government has activated emergency protocols to mobilize more resources to the accident site. Locals posted on social media that a building would be set up in the village nearest the crash for evacuated passengers to be taken to.
Salvador Jimenez, a journalist for RTVE who was on board the Iryo train, shared images showing the nose of the rear carriage of the train lying on its side, with evacuated passengers sitting on the side of the carriage facing upwards.
Jimenez told TVE by phone from beside the stricken trains that passengers had used emergency hammers to smash the windows and climb out, and they had seen two people taken out of the overturned carriages on stretchers.
“There’s a certain uncertainty about when we’ll get to Madrid, where we’ll spend the night, we’ve had no message from the train company yet,” he said. “It’s very cold but here we are.”
