At least 26 women and children fleeing violence in western Myanmar were killed when their boats sank in the Bay of Bengal, officials said on Thursday. Three or more boats carrying ethnic Rohingya capsized, and the bodies of 15 children and 11 women were recovered, Lt. Col. S.M. Ariful Islam, a Bangladesh border guard commander, told The Associated Press. An AP photo showed Bangladeshi villagers on a beach covering the bodies of dead Rohingya with a tarp. The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group that faces oppression in Myanmar, which denies them citizenship rights.
Last week a Rohingya militant group attacked police posts and a military base in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, near the country’s border with Bangladesh. More than 100 people were killed, including at least 12 members of the security forces and 80 militants.
The violence touched off an exodus of Rohingya to Bangladesh, where more than 300,000 Rohingya live in squalid refugee camps. Since the fighting began one week ago at least 18,500 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh, the United Nations’ International Office for Migration said on Wednesday.
The government of Myanmar denies that the Rohingya are citizens, instead calling them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. About one million of them live in Rakhine State, where their ability to work and travel is limited. The United Nations top human rights official condemned the attacks last week and called on Myanmar’s military to show restraint toward civilians. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, also criticized statements from the office of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, accusing United Nations agencies of aiding Rohingya militants.
Source: NY Times
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