Twenty houses in a row near the Maungdaw to Alay Than Kyaw highway were destroyed while security forces watched and did nothing, claimed Annis. There were no reports of deaths or injuries.

On the Information Ministry’s Facebook page there were photos of a fire truck reportedly used to put out the blaze. It’s not known at what stage the truck was deployed, or if the depicted photos were even from the same area where the fires broke out.

Rakhines from Khayraymine were allegedly brought in by district police officer Lt.Col. Shwe Than to scavenge for belongings, said one eye witness that didn’t want their name used for security concerns.

This incident happened in plain view, indicating a staged attack on the Muslim community, claimed Halim, a Maungdaw human rights watchdog.

U Kyi San, Maungdaw township administration officer, told the media only 16 houses were affected by the fire. He denied allegations of security forces blocking villagers from putting out fires, promising an investigation into the cause of the fire, Halim said.

But according the Irrawaddy news group, Aung Zaw Min, a Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) state legislative MP, accused villagers of starting the fires that “burned their own homes”.

Just over two weeks earlier, eastern Kila Dong was reportedly the site of a massacre, starting after a policeman went missing. The UN claimed at least 48 people were killed, but the government has denied this.

During meetings with high level Maungdaw officials and the Union government, prominent Rakhine Buddhist monk Alodawpay Sayradaw denied the recent fire in western Kila Dong was a result of foul play. The same day of the blaze, he attended a Rangoon press conference where the government rejected allegations of the massacre from Jan. 9 to 13 and calls by the UN, USA and UK for an independent investigation by international observers.