Rohingya group says thousands killed in Myanmar

By Bayram Altug

GENEVA (AA) - Thousands of Muslims have been killed over the last three days in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, the European Rohingya Council said on Monday.

Council spokeswoman Anita Schug told Anadolu Agency between 2,000-to-3,000 Muslims had died in Rakhine state, and thousands other had been injured in what she described as a “slow-burning genocide”.

“It [the situation in Rakhine] is an ongoing slow-burning genocide,” Schug said, accusing Myanmar’s military of being behind the deaths.

She said almost a thousand Muslims were killed on Sunday in Saugpara village, Rathedaung alone.

More than a 100,000 civilians have been displaced in Rakhine, while another 2,000 Muslims are trapped on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border which was closed by the Bangladeshi government, Schug added.

She also said a hundred villagers from Auk Nan Yar were taken to an unknown location on Wednesday, adding there were concerns for their safety.

Deadly attacks on border posts in western Myanmar's Rakhine state broke out on Friday, resulting in mass civilian casualties.

Later, media reports emerged saying Myanmar security forces used disproportionate force and displaced thousands of Rohingya villagers, destroying homes with mortars and machine guns.

The region has seen simmering tension between its Buddhist and Muslim populations since communal violence broke out in 2012.

A security clampdown launched in October last year in Maungdaw, where Rohingya form the majority, led to a UN report on human rights violations by security forces that indicated crimes against humanity.

The UN documented mass gang rape, killings, including that of babies and children, brutal beatings and disappearances. Rohingya representatives have said approximately 400 people were slain during the operation.