Villages burn in Myanmar

YANGON: Smoke billowed from at least three burning villages in the remote section of Rakhine state where Myanmar’s military is carrying out sweeps for militants, an AFP reporter saw yesterday.

The violence, which erupted six days ago after Rohingya militants staged surprise raids on police posts, has shown little sign of abating, leaving at least 110 confirmed dead and sending thousands fleeing.

The displaced include ethnic Rakhine people and the persecuted Rohingya minority, thousands of whom have massed at the “zero line” border with Bangladesh which they are barred from crossing.

The bodies of two Rohingya women and two children washed up on Bangladeshi soil yesterday, an official there said, as villagers took to rickety boats or tried to swim across a frontier river.

Villagers in Rakhine continued to flee their homes yesterday.

A Rohingya villager near the town of Maungdaw, speaking on condition of anonymity, said residents fled his hamlet as security forces approached and torched their homes.

It was not immediately possible to verify his account but Rohingya who have made it into Bangladesh have brought similar testimony with them.

Large fires were visible early yesterday from the May Yu river that cuts through the area worst hit by unrest, according to an AFP reporter travelling by boat on a Myanmar government-led trip to the town of Maungdaw. – AFP