Terrorism in Myanmar
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Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
(formerly Burma),
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
is defined by the country's
counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or el ...
law and its subsections, which is interpreted by the Anti-Terrorism Central Committee and enforced by the
government of Myanmar Myanmar ( also known as Burma) operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. P ...
. Two groups are currently listed as terrorist organisations in accordance with Myanmar's counter-terrorism law; the
Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), formerly known as Harakah al-Yaqin ( "faith movement" in English), is a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to a December 2016 report by the International Cr ...
(ARSA), which was added on 25 August 2017, and the
Arakan Army The Arakan Army ( my, ရက္ခိုင့်တပ်တော်, Rakhaing Tattaw; abbreviated AA) is an ethnic armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded on 10 April 2009, the AA is the military wing of the United Lea ...
, which was added on 18 January 2019. The SPDC military government called the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) "terrorists" after their role in the 1999 Myanmar Embassy siege, but the group was never legally declared as such.


Notable incidents

* On 19 July 1947 at approximately 10:37 AM ( MMT), several Burmese independence leaders were gunned down by a group of armed men in uniform while they were holding a cabinet meeting at the
Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the ninth winne ...
in downtown Rangoon (present-day
Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
). * On 9 October 1983, three
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
n agents attempted to
assassinate Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean Republic of Korea Army, army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected Political strongman, strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah ...
, the fifth
president of South Korea The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...
, by
bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...
the
Martyrs' Mausoleum The Martyrs' Mausoleum ( my, အာဇာနည်ဗိမာန်) is a Mausoleum in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma), located near the northern gate of Shwedagon Pagoda. The mausoleum is dedicated to Aung San and other leaders of the pre-independence ...
, where Doo-hwan was commemorating the sacrifice of the Burmese leaders assassinated in 1947. The blast killed 21 people and injured 46. * On 7 October 1999, members of the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) seized the Burmese embassy in
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
,
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, in an event known as the 1999 Myanmar Embassy siege. Hostages were taken by the VBSW, but all were released without harm after negotiations with Thai authorities. The attackers were later escorted back to Thailand's border with Myanmar. * On 30 May 2003 at 8:00 PM (MMT), 70 people associated with the
National League for Democracy The National League for Democracy ( my, အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, ; Abbreviation, abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a liberal democratic political party in Myanm ...
were
massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
d by a government-sponsored mob in
Tabayin Depeyin ( my, ဒီပဲယင်း; also spelled Dabayin, Debayin, Depayin, or Tabayin) is a town in the Sagaing Division in Myanmar. Etymology The town's classical name is (), which means 'continental theatre' or 'dyed field' in Pali. Acc ...
,
Sagaing Region Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lon ...
, in an event known as the Depayin massacre. * On 7 May 2005, simultaneous bomb blasts killed 11 people and injured 162 in Yangon. Authorities blamed
Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...
and Shan insurgents for the bombings. * On 15 April 2010, three separate bombs went off in Yangon during the
Thingyan Thingyan (, ; Arakanese: ; from Sanskrit '' saṁkrānti,'' which means "transit f the Sun from Pisces to Aries) is the Burmese New Year Festival that usually occurs in middle of April. Thingyan is the first ever water festival celebrated in ...
Water Festival The Water Festival is the New Year's celebrations that take place in Southeast Asian nations such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand as well as among the Dai people of China. It is called the 'Water Festival' by Westerners because they no ...
, killing 10 people and injuring 178 others in an event known as the April 2010 Yangon Thingyan bombings. * In October 2013, a series of unexplained bombings occurred nationwide, resulting in the deaths of three people and multiple injuries. * On 9 October 2016, hundreds of insurgents attacked three Burmese border posts along Myanmar's border with
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, killing nine Burmese border officers. The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (then known as "Harakah al-Yaqin") claimed responsibility for the attack, which the government labeled an act of terrorism. * On 25 August 2017, up to 150 ARSA insurgents participated in coordinated attacks on 24 police posts and the 552nd Light Infantry Battalion army base in
Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...
. Twelve members of Myanmar's security forces were killed in the attacks, which the government labeled an act of terrorism. * Kha Maung Seik massacre: On 25 August 2017, Hindu villages in an area known as Kha Maung Seik in the northern
Maungdaw District Maungdaw District ( my, မောင်တောခရိုင်) is a district of Rakhine State in western Myanmar (Burma). Its capital city is Maungdaw and the population density is about 295 persons per square kilometer. Roughly 91 percent of ...
of Rakhine State were attacked and 99
Bengali Hindu Bengali Hindus ( bn, বাঙ্গালী হিন্দু/বাঙালি হিন্দু, translit=Bāṅgālī Hindu/Bāṅāli Hindu) are an ethnoreligious population who make up the majority in the Indian states of West Benga ...
villagers were massacred, allegedly by insurgents from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. A month later, the
Myanmar Army The Myanmar Army ( my, တပ်မတော်(ကြည်း), ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw, Armed Forces (''Tatmadaw'') of Myanmar (Burma) and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The My ...
discovered mass graves containing the corpses of 45 Hindus, most of whom were women and children.


See also

*
Internal conflict in Myanmar Insurgencies have been ongoing in Myanmar since 1948, the year the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with several ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar's ...
*
Crime in Myanmar Crime is present in various forms in Myanmar (also known as Burma) and is continuous with the activities of many drug trafficking financed militias at the eastern and western border regions, and with corruption within and challenges to the central ...


References

{{Asia topic, Terrorism in Politics of Myanmar History of Myanmar
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
Human rights abuses in Myanmar