Rohingya Muslims continue to flee violence in Burma

Close to 18,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Burma (also known as Myanmar) into neighboring Bangladesh after clashes with government troops resumed last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday. Sanjukta Sahany, spokeswoman for IOM in the border town Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, said many of the minority Rohingya Muslims crossed the border with bullet wounds and burns. Hundreds of others remain stranded at the border. “People are traumatized, which is quite visible,” Sahany said. Rohingya militants staged an attack against government security forces last week in Rakhine state after accusing them of killing and assaulting their people. Human rights groups and advocates said more than 100 people have died since then in retaliation attacks by the Myanmar army. Human Rights Watch said it has accessed satellite data that shows widespread fires burning in at least 10 areas in Rakhine state. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, condemned the violence and called on Myanmar authorities to “issue clear instructions to security forces to refrain from using disproportionate force.”