Nearly 400 people have died in fighting that has rocked Myanmar’s northwest for a week, new official data show, making it probably the deadliest bout of violence to engulf the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority in decades.
The clashes and ensuing Army crackdown have killed about 370 Rohingya insurgents, but also 13 security forces, two government officials and 14 civilians, the Myanmar military said on Thursday.
In the neighbouring Bangladesh, a total of 41 bodies of the Rohingya had been recovered from the Naf river till Friday. Of the 18 bodies recovered on Friday, seven were of women and nine of children. While some of the Rohingya people reportedly drowned after the boats they were using to cross the border into Bangladesh capsized, others were believed to have been killed a few days ago, said local people and the police.
Meanwhile 12 more Rohingya were admitted in hospitals in Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar with bullet wounds.
Border Guard Bangladesh has set up a medical camp for those stranded in the no man’s land along the Naikhyangchhari border and waiting to enter Bangladesh. Some 200-300 refugees have been seeking treatment daily, said Dr. Mohammad Shahidul Islam.
Despite Bangladesh’s repeated refusal to take further refugees from Myanmar, reports from all border points on Friday said that thousands of Rohingya people have already entered Bangladesh in a desperate attempt to escape the violence. United Nations says around 38,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar.
(Inputs from Reuters )
