Photos show Myanmar razed Rohingya villages to the ground

The Myanmar government used bulldozers to clear out at least 55 Rohingya Muslim villages in an operation that could destroy evidence of abuse against the minority group, Human Rights Watch reported Friday. The satellite images, provided by Colorado-based DigitalGlobe, showed the villages void of structures and vegetation. Security forces in Myanmar, also known as Burma, launched a clearance operation in August that sent about 700,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh. Satellite imagery at the time showed authorities initially torched the majority of the Rohingya villages. “Bulldozing these areas threatens to erase both the memory and the legal claims of the Rohingya who lived there,” said Brad Adams, the Asia director for Human Rights Watch.