"The report examines the period of intense military operations that followed coordinated attacks on police posts by the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine armed group, on 4 January 2019. The new operation followed a government instruction to ‘crush’ the AA. “Less than two years since the world outrage over the mass atrocities committed against the Rohingya population, the Myanmar military is again committing horrific abuses against ethnic groups in Rakhine State” said Nicholas Bequelin, Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia at Amnesty International. “The new operations in Rakhine State show an unrepentant, unreformed and unaccountable military terrorizing civilians and committing widespread violations as a deliberate tactic.” Amnesty International conducted 81 interviews, including 54 interviews on the ground in Rakhine State in late March 2019 and 27 remote interviews with people living in conflict-affected areas. They included ethnic Rakhine, Mro, Rohingya and Khami villagers, belonging to the Buddhist, Christian and Muslim faiths. The organization also reviewed photographs, videos and satellite imagery, and interviewed humanitarian officials, human rights activists and other experts. While ethnic Rakhine communities have long fostered political grievances against Myanmar’s central government, the AA is led by a younger generation of ethnic Rakhine nationalists. Today the AA is estimated to have a fighting force of up to 7,000 troops. Established in 2009, it has fought alongside other ethnic armed organizations in northern Myanmar and in recent years has clashed sporadically with the military in Rakhine and neighbouring Chin State. Fighting intensified in late 2018..."