Over 2,600 homes burned in Rohingya-majority Rakhine: Myanmar

The Myanmar government says over 2,600 houses have been burned down over the past week in the Rohingya-majority areas of the country’s northwest, which have been the scene of one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence against the persecuted Muslim community in decades.

The Myanmar government says over 2,600 houses have been burned down over the past week in the Rohingya-majority areas of the country’s northwest, which have been the scene of one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence against the persecuted Muslim community in decades.

“A total of 2,625 houses from Kotankauk, Myinlut and Kyikanpyin villages and two wards in Maungtaw were burned down,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said on Saturday.

The report blamed the so-called Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which is said to be defending Rohingya Muslims, for the fires in Rakhine villages.

The Rohingya Muslims fleeing the violence to Bangladesh, however, insist that a campaign of arson and killings by the Myanmarese army aimed at forcing them out of the country is responsible for the carnage and destruction in the area.