Rohingya massacre

On 28 March 1942, nearly 100,000 Rohingya Muslims, almost half of Rohingya population of that time, were killed by Japanese forces.

During World War II, Japanese forces invaded Burma, then under British colonial rule. The British forces retreated and in the power vacuum left behind, considerable violence erupted. This included communal violence between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya villagers. The period also witnessed violence between groups loyal to the British and Burmese nationalists. The Rohingya supported the Allies during the war and oppose the Japanese forces, assisting the Allies in reconnaisance.

The Japanese committed atrocities toward thousands of Rohingya, the Japanese engaged in an orgy of rape, murder and torture. In this period, some 22,000 Rohingya are believed to have crossed the border into Bengal, then part of British India, to escape the violence.

40,000 Rohingya eventually fled to Chittagong after repeated massacres by the Burmese and Japanese forces.

See also

• List of massacres in Burma

References

External links

• at Human Rights Watch
• at the Jamiatul Ulama KwaZulu-Natal website

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