Fires rage in Rakhine as Myanmar army blames Rohingya for mosque blast

SITTWE, Sept 23 ( AFP) - Myanmar's army chief on Saturday blamed Rohinyga militants for an explosion outside a mosque in Rakhine state, as a rights group accused the military of starting fires in the region to prevent refugees from returning.

The unrest comes days after Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi declared troops had ceased 'clearance operations' in the border area that have forced more than 430,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh in under a month.

The army claims it is targeting Rohingya militants who attacked police posts on August 25. But its operation has been so sweeping and brutal that the UN says it amounts to “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya Muslim minori- ty, a group reviled by many in the mainly Buddhist country.

On Saturday Myanmar's commander- in- chief Min Aung Hlaing said Rohingya militants planted a “homemade mine” that exploded in between a mosque and madrasa in northern Rakhine's Buthidaung township on Friday. The army chief accused the militants of trying to drive out around 700 hundred v i l l a g ers who had remained in Mi Chaung Zay -- an argument analysts have said makes little sense for a group whose power depends on the networks it has built across Rohingya communities.

With the government blocking access to the conflict zone, it is difficult to verify the swirl of claims and counterclaims over who is driving the unrest, which has also displaced tens of thousands of Buddhists and Hindus.

But rights groups say there is overwhelming evidence that the army is using its crackdown on militants to systematically purge the 1.1- million strong stateless Rohingya from its borders.

On Friday Amnesty International said new videos and satellite imagery confirmed fires were still ripping through Rohingya villages.

Human Rights Watch on Saturday also echoed earlier a l l e g at i o n s t h at Myanmar security forces were laying landmines along the Bangladesh border crossed by the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya seeking sanctuary.