Deadly blaze hits Rohingya

– Six Rohingya were killed early yesterday after a blaze tore through an overcrowded camp for the persecuted minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the local fire service said.

Global attention has focused on the 720 000 Rohingya Muslims forced into Bangladesh last year by a military crackdown. But less visible are the 129 000 Rohingya confined to squalid camps near the capital, Sittwe. The fire in a camp housing 4 000 Rohingya lasted several hours, fire department official Han Soe said. –