I never truly wanted to come to Bangladesh.

I lost my youngest son in a bomb blast on 1 August while he was playing outside the house. He was 4 years old and was one of the most loved members of the family. He was playing with his siblings and, being the youngest, he couldn’t run when the sound of the bomb was heard. The bomb struck near our house, and a small fragment hit my son, killing him. We left the village after we performed the funeral rites and buried him. I’m not sure who fired it – whether it was the Myanmar military or the Arakan Army (AA).

‘I have nothing left to give you’

After my son was killed, I sent my wife and the other children to Bangladesh with her mother’s family. They got a boat and sailed for Bangladesh. However, they were caught by robbers in the sea who took all their belongings.

Some male survivors on the boat were beaten and threatened. The robbers held a knife to my wife’s neck soon after capturing them. She tried to explain, “I have lost everything, including my son, and I fled the violence to save my life. I have nothing left to give you.” But they didn’t listen. They snatched her mobile phone, took her jewelry, and demanded her bag, which contained her clothes.

The family spent the entire night and the next day on the boat without any food, before finally reaching Bangladesh in the evening.

Growing dangers in Myanmar

I sent my father’s family [to Bangladesh] on 5 August, the day after I sent my wife and children. I was hoping that the fighting would calm down so I could bring them back to Myanmar.

The situation had become very dangerous. On 6 August, the Arakan Army entered our village and relocated all the Hindu and Buddhist families to a safe area. Then, they began causing unrest [using it as a base to launch attacks] in the village, which forced us, the Muslim families, to leave on 7 August. We were the only ethnic group left in the village. It seemed like they did this intentionally.

I also saw conscripted Rohingya fighting alongside the Myanmar military. The AA was [also] able to conscript Rohingya people because they conscripted all of them from the rural areas where people in those villages could not disobey the orders of the AA.

“If you don’t leave, we will shoot you.”

My remaining relatives and I left our village and went downtown [in Maungdaw], seeking refuge. The AA came downtown and ordered people to leave. There were only a few families left. The AA members came to us and threatened, “If you don’t leave immediately, we will shoot you.”

In the morning of 15 August, I witnessed the AA kill a woman right on the spot with gunfire while she went to a pond to collect water … there was another man who was sitting and smoking in front of his house and he too was shot right in his head and killed.

Around 9am the next morning, we left the town on foot. We were part of a group of around 150 people. However, when we tried to make our way to the border, the AA blocked the road. They told us, “You won’t be able to leave today. Go back to where you came from and stay in any house you like.”

All roads blocked by the Arakan Army

We spent the night…covering our mouths and noses because there were dead bodies all over the place. We couldn’t sleep properly, and we had to endure this for five days as all the roads were blocked by the AA.

The AA was conducting investigations and identifying people who had joined the Myanmar military. One day, while I was at a tea shop with a friend, the AA came in and called my friend away. I haven’t heard from him since. I have no idea if he is still alive or if he was killed.

[Myanmar military] fighter jets were flying over the village where we had been stuck for five days, and we could hear the sounds of massive explosions in the nearby villages. I thought to myself, if a bomb were to hit one of the houses here, we would die in groups.

Before we ran out of money we made the decision to leave. The boat started at 10pm. They kept us on an island for two hours. A group of men came with guns. I thought they were Rohingya, they demanded money. I asked who they were, they said “shut up, keep silent.” The boatman negotiated with them and paid.

‘I don’t want to be in Myanmar at all’

I arrived in Bangladesh on 25 August. We reached a house and suddenly there was a light from a torch. It was the border guards. We ran, found a pit, and hid there [until it was safe to come out].

All my surviving family members, including my father’s family, are now here in Bangladesh, but we are not living in one place as we don’t have our own shelter. We are staying with relatives.

My last request, since we are not safe here or there: I want to resettle in a third country. I now don’t want to be in Myanmar at all.

*This testimony has been edited for length and clarity. Amnesty’s full findings, including the Arakan Army’s response to allegations, can be found here.

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