Myanmar’s police on duty in
conflict-prone border areas across the country have asked to be equipped
with modern weaponry, citing a number of attacks on police in Maungdaw,
Rakhine State.
Since 2001, police say, they have been attacked at least seven times by Muslims in Maungdaw.
A police sergeant was killed on July 11,
2001 in an attack in Thugyi Village, Maungdaw Township. The same year
on November 23, an attack on Laungdon Police Station in northern
Maungdaw killed six security force members, with six rifles going
missing.
Another police officer was killed there
on September 2, 2004 and his gun went missing. Sixteen days later, four
police officers were injured in a drive-by attack at night at the
Kinchaung Police Station.
On April 22, 2009, police officers were injured in an attack by Thetchaung village residents during their night patrol.
During a police search for a fugitive on
March 27 last year, two policemen were injured during a group attack by
Muslims in Maungdaw.
On January 13 this year, a police
sergeant along with his gun went missing during the night patrol in Du
Chee Ratan as local villagers attacked.
“When they were surrounded by Bengali
villagers in Du Chee Ratan village, the gun they used to shoot as a
warning was not working. So the sergeant went missing along with his
gun. The weapons used by police in the border area were out of date,”
said a village elder from Karay Myaing village in Maungdaw.
Lieutenant Police Colonel Shwe Than in
charge of Maungdaw District said that the police are not equipped with
automatic firearms even though their duty is to maintain the rule of
law.
“Some requests have been made to
superior officials to equip such firearms, in order to maintain control
during some difficult situations. In a life-threatening case, it’s very
dangerous for a policeman encountering it if he is not equipped with a
reliable weapon for self-defense,” said Col. Shwe Than.
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Eleven Myanmar
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