After months denying any wrongdoing, Myanmar has admitted its forces helped kill 10 Rohingya in custody in an apparent bid to blame a few rogue soldiers for what the global community alleges is part of an organised ethnic cleansing campaign.<\/p>\n
Accounts of mass murder, rape and torture from the 655,000 Rohingya who fled Myanmar\u2019s army to Bangladesh have horrified the world.<\/p>\n
Since the August crackdown the army vigorously denied any abuses, instead locking down access to Rakhine state and accusing critics \u2013 including the UN \u2013 of pro-Rohingya bias and spreading \u201cfake news\u201d.<\/p>\n
Then late on Wednesday it suddenly changed tune: an internal probe found four members of the \u201csecurity forces\u201d helped kill 10 Rohingya militant suspects at Inn Din village on September 2, leaving their bodies in a hastily-dug pit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was found that the incident was not submitted to superior levels,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The unprecedented acknowledgement, relayed on the Facebook page of the office of army chief Min Aung Hlaing, rippled out across the rights community that has spent months piecing together allegations of numerous atrocities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis grisly admission is a sharp departure from the army\u2019s policy of blanket denial of any wrongdoing,\u201d said James Gomez, Amnesty International\u2019s regional director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, it is only the tip of the iceberg,\u201d he added, urging independent investigation into other allegations.<\/p>\n
Some observers say the army move is an attempt to retake control of the story after rumours of extra-judicial killings at Inn Din and the surrounding area began to seep out.<\/p>\n
The admission came the same day as two Reuters journalists were formally charged by police in court with breaching the Official Secrets Act.<\/p>\n
The pair, Myanmar nationals Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, have widely covered the military campaign in Rakhine although Reuters has declined to comment on whether they were specifically reporting on the mass grave in Inn Din.<\/p>\n
\u2018Failed cover-up\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe military\u2019s admission demonstrates the culpability of soldiers and commanders in mass atrocities,\u201d said Matthew Smith of Fortify Rights, suggesting the arrest of the journalists was a clumsy effort \u201cto cover their tracks\u201d.<\/p>\n
Khin Zaw Win, of Yangon-based think-tank the Tampadipa Institute, echoed that theory, speculating the army \u201chad no option but to come clean with it\u201d.<\/p>\n
In December the US hit General Maung Maung Soe, who led the Western Command in the Rakhine operations, with targeted sanctions.<\/p>\n
That punishment may have rattled the upper army echelons, speculated Khin Zaw Win about an institution renowned for denials and secrecy.<\/p>\n
Cover-ups \u201ccould go bad for them… there could be sanctions against other generals\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) says at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of the Myanmar forces\u2019 operation, including 730 children.<\/p>\n
Until Wednesday the army said its operations had killed around 400 militants in a legitimate defence of the country from Muslim militants intent on taking over Rakhine.<\/p>\n
Its stance helped curdle a siege mentality inside Myanmar where the Buddhist-majority public has little sympathy for the stateless Rohingya.<\/p>\n
Inn Dinn, in Maungdaw district, was engulfed by violence in late August.<\/p>\n
On September 1 the 10 \u201cBengali terrorists\u201d were apprehended after clashes pitting Rohingya against security forces and Rakhine villagers enraged by the murder of a local man by militants, the army chief\u2019s office said in its post.<\/p>\n
\u201cBengali\u201d is loaded term for the Muslim minority who are widely reviled inside Myanmar.<\/p>\n
The 10 suspects should have been taken to a police station.<\/p>\n
Instead after a night of \u201cinterrogation\u201d at a school they were killed the next day by Rakhine villagers armed with swords and \u201cfour members of security forces\u201d who \u201cshot them with the use of guns\u201d.<\/p>\n
Their remains were found on December 20.<\/p>\n
The account chimes with refugee testimony collected in Bangladesh on the Inn Din incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were told that the 10 people had been arrested,\u201d Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, told AFP. \u201cThey were never heard of again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The army said it would take action against the villagers and security forces involved \u2013 and any officers who failed to control their subordinates.<\/p>\n
Rights groups have seized on the army\u2019s own account of Inn Din as validation of the reams of testimony of multiple massacres.<\/p>\n
But with Rakhine locked off to media, most aid agencies and UN investigators, there are calls for more leverage to be used on Myanmar \u2013 more so as the repatriation of a limited number of refugees is soon due to begin.<\/p>\n
The European Union in Myanmar said the killings confirm the need for a thorough and credible investigation into all violence incidents in northern Rakhine state \u201cto ensure the accountability of those found responsible for committing atrocities\u201d.<\/p>\n
Myanmar should be reported to the International Criminal Court, said Matt Smith of Fortify.<\/p>\n
\u201cImpunity in Myanmar won\u2019t end on its own,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n