Hundreds Of Buddhists Riot, Kill 5, Burn 70 Homes at Least: Myanmar

Local Editor

Hundreds of Buddhists have rioted in western Myanmar, killing at least five Muslims, four men and a woman on Wednesday.

Kyaw Naing, a police officer, told the AP news agency that the clashes broke out on Tuesday in Thabyachaing village, about 20km north of the coastal town of Thandwe in Rakhine state.

Four Muslim organizations in Myanmar have urged the government to protect Muslims following the recent rise in sectarian violence in the Southeast Asian country.
"We demand that the government ensures the rule of law in order to protect us," the groups said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
 
Muslims feel "great sorrow after being attacked and we are now living in a high state of fear," the statement added.

The call came as the Buddhists mobs began a fresh round of arson attacks against Muslims in western Rakhine State.
A similar attack in the Thandwe area of Rakhine on Tuesday left an elderly woman dead, and setting more than 70 homes ablaze, after over 700 Buddhists took to the streets.
The incidents also came as Myanmar's President Thein Sein paid a rare visit to the troubled Rakhine.

About 140,000 people, mainly Rohingya Muslims, have been displaced in the western state of Rakhine. More than 250 people were killed in several outbreaks of violence across Myanmar since June 2012.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team