Death toll hits 96 in Burma violence

THE DEATH toll from violence in western Burma which began when insurgents attacked police posts has reached 96.

Most of those killed were alleged Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority attackers but 12 security personnel also died.

Burma is overwhelmingly Buddhist, but about one million Muslim Rohingya live in the northern part of Rakhine state, where the violence is taking place.

Rohingya supporters suggest many more civilians have died in army attacks on villages and villagers have fled to the mountains or to tried to flee into Bangladesh.

Witnesses and refugees on the border with Bangladesh said thousands were unable to leave Burma after trying to flee. Witnesses said they heard gunshots and Bangladeshi villagers said they could see military helicopters hovering.

Several hundred Rohingya got stuck in a “no man’s land” at a border point in Bangladesh’s Bandarban district, barred from moving further by Bangladeshi border guards who cordoned off about 1,000 Rohingya.

But more than 2,000 Rohingya entered Bangladesh overnight through two points at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar district.

A Rohingya insurgent group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, or ARSA, took responsibility for Thursday night’s attacks, saying they were in defence of Rohingya communities brutalised by government forces.

State Counsellor Suu Kyi’s office accused the insurgents of “torching police outposts and monasteries, killing innocent people and planting mines”.

The government refuses to recognize Rohingya as a legitimate native ethnic minority. Most Rohingya are denied citizenship and face severe discrimination.