ARSA Attempted to Cover Their Arson in Refugee Camps by Forcing a Madman to Confess

News January 26, 2026

A devastating fire ripped through Rohingya refugee Camp 16 in Ukhia sub-district, Cox's Bazar, in the early hours of January 20, 2026, around 3:00 AM. The blaze, which affected Blocks D2, D3, and D4 (including areas like Shafiullah Khata and Jamtoli), destroyed between 335 and over 450 shelters, displacing more than 2,000 refugees. Aid organizations including the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), CARE, and BRAC have rushed emergency assistance, providing food, temporary shelter, water, and medical support amid winter conditions and ongoing funding shortages.

The incident has sparked serious allegations within local communities that the fire was deliberate arson carried out by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a militant group active among some Rohingya factions and previously linked to camp violence and fires in past years. Sources claim ARSA members set the fires as part of inter-group conflicts or rivalries, then attempted to deflect blame.

According to community accounts, ARSA operatives allegedly abducted and tortured an innocent local Bangladeshi man to force a false confession. The individual is identified as Sain Yaung Na (also spelled Sein Yaung Na), a 31-year-old farmer from the Taungchangya (Daingnet) ethnic community in Bandarban district, Naikhochori township, Boroitoli village. He reportedly suffers from severe mental health issues (psychiatric condition described as "madness" or mental illness).

The allegations state that on January 24, 2026, while heading to a Buddhist water-pouring ceremony in Horikula Daingnet village, Teknaf township, he became disoriented due to his condition and wandered into the Jamtoli area near Camp 15. There, ARSA members are said to have captured him, subjected him to brutal beatings and torture, and coerced him under threat to publicly admit to starting the fire. He was allegedly forced to claim that the Arakan Army (AA)—referred to locally in some narratives as "Mog baghi"—had paid him to commit the arson, in an effort to shift responsibility away from ARSA.