Turkish aid group opens center for Rohingya children

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation inaugurated a rehabilitation center for Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh, it said on Wednesday.

According to a statement, the foundation plans to open four more similar centers for refugees in Bangladesh in the near future.

The five centers, at Balukhali, Jamtoli, Palongkhali, Bagguna and Ghumdhum refugee camps in the coastal Cox's Bazaar city, will provide education, health, nutrition and rehabilitation services to 2,000 children.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Since Aug. 25, over 625,000 Rohingya have crossed from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine into Bangladesh, according to the UN.

The refugees are fleeing a military operation in which security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes, and torched Rohingya villages.