Myanmar Crackdown: 400 Massacred, More Than 2,600 Houses in Rohingya Burned
Local Editor
Almost 400 people have died in clashes between security forces and Rohingya Muslims in Burma, the country's military commander said.
The numbers, posted on the military's official Facebook page, are a sharp increase on the previously reported toll of just over 100.
The statement said there had been 90 armed clashes including an initial 30 attacks by insurgents on 25 August, making the combat more extensive than previously announced.
Advocates for the Rohingya, an oppressed Muslim minority in overwhelmingly Buddhist Burma, said the security forces have killed hundreds of Rohingya civilians.
In parallel, more than 2,600 houses of the Rohingya have been burned down in the last week, the government said on Saturday, in one of the deadliest bouts of violence against the Muslim minority in decades.
About 58,600 Rohingya have fled the violence into Bangladesh from Myanmar, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR, as aid workers there struggle to cope.
In this respect, Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say a campaign of arson and killings by the Myanmar army is aimed at trying to force them out.
The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar's roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
