SUMMARY

The ARSA began fighting an intrastate armed conflict over territory against the Government of Myanmar in 2016 (see Government of Myanmar (Burma) - ARSA). Although ARSA denied allegations of conducting one-sided violence, Myanmar authorities, witness testimonies, and Amnesty International’s investigation tied the group to several brutal killings of civilians in 2107. The majority of the one-sided violence occurred in late August 2017, following the ARSA's attacks on some 30 police posts on 25 August 2017.

The ARSA first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2017, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in August of that year when at around 8 am on 25 August 2017, ARSA attacked the Hindu community in the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, in a cluster of villages known as Kha Maung Seik in northern Maungdaw Township. Armed men dressed in black and local Rohingya villagers in plain clothes rounded up dozens of Hindu women, men, and children. They robbed, bound, and blindfolded them before marching them to the outskirts of the village, where they separated the men from the women and young children. A few hours later, the ARSA fighters killed 53 of the Hindus, execution-style, starting with the men.