Another Model Villager Dies from Attack in Maungdaw

9/27/2009

Maungdaw : 16-year-old model villager Maung Bo Ko succumbed to injuries in the Maungdaw hospital on Friday, a day after he was attacked by a group of local Muslims, said a worker from the hospital.

"He is the third model villager to die in the attack of a group of local Muslims against the model village of Kharay Myint in Du Chara Dan Village Tract in Maungdaw Township," he said.

According to a local source, about ten people in black hoods wearing black uniforms secretly entered the model village of Kharay Myint at midnight to attack the model villagers.

Two model villagers, identified as U San Mying, 53, and U Soe Aung, 48, died at the scene, while 16-year-old Maung Bo Ko and Ma Ni Ni Aung managed to escape. However, Maung Bo Ko received critical injuries during the attack.

The attack took place while the villagers were sleeping inside a video film parlor, and the assailants chopped them with swords.

Maung Bo Ko was hospitalized at the Maungdaw hospital soon after the incident but medical doctors were unable to save him. He succumbed to his injuries on Friday.

According to a local source, after the incident, many government primary schools in the area were closed because teachers fled out of fear of attack.

Security has been tightened in Maungdaw Township since the attack, and many law enforcement groups are hunting the culprits. Many people in the area, primarily Muslim, have been arrested in relation to the incident.

The worker said, "The local Muslim community disagreed with the model village project in Maungdaw that was set up by the military government. Because of that, the Muslims attacked the model villagers with swords."

In Maungdaw Township there are over 40 model villages set up by the military government with people brought in from Burma proper. The aim is to balance the local population between Muslims and Buddhists.

According to a local source, at least eight Buddhists in Maungdaw Township have been killed in attacks by Muslim miscreants this year, but most have been local Arakanese.

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