Boats fleeing Burma tip; 26 bodies found
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Boats carrying ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Burma capsized in Bangladesh, and 26 bodies of women and children have been recovered, officials said Thursday.
Lt. Col. S.M. Ariful Islam, a Bangladeshi border guard commander, said at least three boats carrying an unknown number of Rohingya Muslims sank in the Naf River in Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday. He said the bodies of 15 children and 11 women were recovered, and it was unclear whether anyone was still missing.
The top government official in Cox’s Bazar, Mohammad Ali Hossain, said the bodies will be buried because no one has claimed them.
Last week, Rohingya insurgents attacked at least two dozen police posts in Burma’s Rakhine state, triggering fighting with security forces that left more than 100 people dead and forced at least 18,000 Rohingya to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.
Hundreds of people have been stranded in a no man’s land at the countries’ border, the International Organization for Migration said. Satellite imagery analyzed by U.S.based Human Rights Watch indicated that many homes in northern Rakhine state were set ablaze.
Most of Burma’s estimated 1 million Rohingya Muslims live in northern Rakhine state. They face persecution in the Buddhist-majority country, which refuses to recognize them as a legitimate native ethnic minority, leaving them without citizenship and basic rights.
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that military authorities adopted in 1989. Some nations, such as the United States and Britain, have refused to adopt the name change.
Long-standing tension between the Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists broke out into violent riots in 2012. That set off a surge of anti-Muslim sentiment throughout the country.
Some Buddhists and Hindus also have fled the recent violence in Burma.
More than 400 Hindu residents of Rakhine state crossed into Bangladesh after being attacked by armed men, officials and survivors said.
Main Uddin, a government official in Cox’s Bazar, said the survivors reported that about 86 Hindus had been killed by armed groups in three villages since Aug. 25.
Survivors said Burmese soldiers were everywhere and that “armed people” were burning houses and killing people.
Nirajan Rudro, a Hindu who fled to Bangladesh, said masked men armed with guns, sticks and knives had attacked residents and set fire to their houses.
Uddin said 412 Hindus are staying in a Hindu neighborhood near Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar.
“They have been sheltered in an abandoned poultry farm there. Bangladeshi Hindus are helping them,” he said.