Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army | |
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Participant in the Rohingya insurgency in Western Myanmar | |
Motto: "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."
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Active | October 2016 | – present
Ideology |
Rohingya nationalism Islamism |
Leaders | Ata Ullah |
Area of operations |
Rakhine State, Myanmar-Bangladesh border |
Strength | 500 |
Opponents | |
Battles and wars |
Rohingya insurgency in Western Myanmar
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Burmese: အာရ်ကန်ရိုဟင်ဂျာ ကယ်တင်ရေးတပ်မတော်; abbreviated ARSA), previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin (abbreviated HaY),Aqa Mul Mujahidin and in English as the Faith Movement, or the Movement of Certainty, is a Rohingya insurgent group active in the jungles of northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is led by Ata Ullah, a Rohingya man who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
According to the lead interrogator of ARSA suspects jailed in Sittwe, Police Captain Yan Naing Latt, the group's goal is to create a "democratic Muslim state for the Rohingya". Although there is no firm evidence linking the ARSA to foreign Islamist groups, the Burmese government suspects that some of its members are involved with foreign Islamists. This has been denied by the ARSA, who claim to have no links to terrorist groups or foreign Islamists. The ARSA have also stated that their only target is the "oppressive Burmese regime".
According to Rohingya locals and Burmese security officials, the group began approaching Rohingya men from various villages for recruitment six months prior to their first attack in October, and trained them across the border in Bangladesh.
In October 2016, the group, calling itself Harakah al-Yaqin (or the Faith Movement in English), claimed responsibility for attacks on Burmese border posts along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, which left 9 border officers and 4 soldiers dead.