Bangladesh arrests notorious Rohingya militant leader

Ata Ullah, 48, first surfaced nearly a decade ago as the charismatic leader of ARSA, an outfit formed to wage an insurgency against the stateless Muslim minority’s persecution in Myanmar

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A Rohingya militant leader who directed attacks against Myanmar security forces which precipitated a humanitarian catastrophe was arrested on Tuesday by police in Bangladesh.

Ata Ullah, 48, first surfaced nearly a decade ago as the charismatic leader of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an outfit formed to wage an insurgency against the stateless Muslim minority's persecution in Myanmar.

Their attacks on police posts in 2017 sparked brutal reprisals that eventually sent around 750,000 Rohingya fleeing for their lives into squalid relief camps in neighbouring Bangladesh.

The leader was arrested alongside five associates by the elite Rapid Action Battalion force on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, while another four of his associates were arrested in the central district of Mymensingh, police said.

Ata Ullah was believed to have personally ordered the 2017 attacks and first came to public attention soon after in videos posted online, where he was seen flanked by masked gunmen and vowing to liberate the Rohingya from "dehumanised oppression".