On 10th June 2002, at about 4:20pm 4 army personnel equipped with knives and swords in civil dresses attacked the mosque and villagers of “Saan Gana”(Thin Ga Net) village tract, about 12 miles north of Buthidaung while praying, including the Imam (the religious leader leading the prayer) of the mosque without provocation, said a villager from Saan Gana village who recently crossed the border.
The army personnel belonging to LIB No.551 of Buthidaung township had suddenly came to the said village and attacked the village mosque, beat and tortured the devotees, demolished the mosque walls, ransacked the holy Qur’an and other holy books and destroyed whatever was found inside the mosque. At one stage, when it became intolerable, the villagers saying the prayers inside the mosque fell upon two of the culprits and the other two could manage to escape from the scene, he further added.

On information, a section of army rushed to the spot while beating and torturing the villagers all through the way from their camp to the place of occurrence. The army also went to a house of one Abdus Salam of the village where a marriage ceremony was being held and started indiscriminate beating. Many people were injured who included old men and women. Meanwhile, some of the participants were arrested and carried away to the army camp, he further said.

The next day, that is on 11th June, the Chairman and Secretary of the Village PDC together with the some villagers went to the Nasaka, Military Intelligence (MI) and police of Taung Bazar of Buthidaung township and apprised them of the event. They all advised them
to inform the matter to the Military Operation Command (MOC) No. 15 stationed at Dabru Chaung under Buthidaung Township. But on information, the Commander of MOC asked the villagers to pinpoint the accused for action to be taken by police, said a source from Dabru
Chaung.

From 14th June, under the pretext of inquiry, the police and the army frequently visited the village, arrested and tortured the villagers leaving a number of them injured. The arrested persons were implicated in the case and were detained in the camp until payment of ransoms, said a police source.

Again on 24th June, 4 Rohingyas of the same village were arrested and detained by the army. They were: Noor Hossain, 50, S/o Late Abu Taleb, VPDC Chairman, Mohammd Idris S/o Akhtar Kamal, 35, Secretary of VPDC, Noor Mohammd S/o Abul Khair, 51, member of VPDC, Shamsu, 35, Chairman of Ma-Ba-Ka (a newly formed village reporting committee). All of them were tortured and were later released on medical grounds but on condition that they would be present before the military when asked for, said another villager.

It is reported that still the villagers have been taken by surprise and implicated in the case. Many villagers have gone into hiding to escape arrest. They include Moulvi Mohamed Yunus, 28, S/o Sayed Hussain, Mohammed Tuha, 27, S/o Jalal Ahmed, Ahmed Hussain, 50, and two sons of Abu Sayed, aged 23 and 25 years, the villager further added.

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