A shell-shocked Rohingya youth narrated a gruesome experience of how his 11 family members were killed during the Myanmar army crackdown in Rakhine state on September 4.
Zafar Alam, a 26-year old resident of Tulatoli village in Maungdaw, told the Dhaka Tribune claims that he barely escaped with his life after sustaining gunshot wounds during the violence.
Lying on a bed at the surgery ward of Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Zafar said: “It was around 9am on September 4, and we were preparing to abandon our village. The Myanmar army had cordoned off our homes. As we tried to escape, 11 members of my family were killed in their indiscriminate firing. I managed to barely escape with several other villagers.”
“The Myanmar army then dragged the bodies inside the houses and burned them,” he added.
Also Read- ‘There is no Rohingya left in Tulatoli’
Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) treated the Rohingya youth in Cox’s Bazar after he arrived in Bangladesh. He was shifted to CMCH on September 5.
Asked how he came to know about the deaths of his family members, Zafar said his father witnessed the whole incident.
Zafar broke into tears while narrating his gruesome experience. “I had seven brothers and a sister, and we used to live with 24 family members. Eleven members of my family, including my mother and two of my brothers, were brutally murdered,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
He sustained gunshot wounds in his hands during his escape. He described how his father narrowly escaped death.
“My father hid in a nearby paddy field when the military encircled our house. He stayed there till evening, and later crossed over to Bangladesh with my surviving family members. My father along with my other family members have taken refuge at a camp in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar.”
Also Read- ‘They killed at least two from each family’
Md Rahmatullah, a younger brother of Zafar, told Dhaka Tribune: “I was staying in Chittagong during the crackdown. My father has become traumatised after witnessing the atrocities.”
At least 90 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, are undergoing treatment at CMCH as of Monday. Two of the injured have already succumbed to their injuries.
More than 300,000 Rohingyas have arrived in Bangladesh since Myanmar's brutal military campaign after insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base on August 25.
Survivors say the army and local mobs have burned down villages, killed and raped the Rohingyas but Myanmar denies the charges.
UN Human Rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has said the military operation in Rakhine "seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing".
Thursday, June 04, 2026
