TEMPO.CO, Sittwe - Deadly violence has worsened in Myanmar's Rakhine state in the last three days from Sunday 27 August 2017, with nearly 100 people killed.
As reported by the Straits Times on Monday, August 28, 2017, the death toll rose as armed clashes between soldiers and Rohingya militants continued for a third day.
The Myanmar government says the death toll from violence due to coordinated attacks by Rohingya guerrillas has risen to 98 people, with 80 militants and 12 members of the security forces.
The government has evacuated at least 4,000 non-Muslim villagers amid clashes that took place in northwestern Rakhine.
The deadly weapon call came from an attack by ethnic Rohingya Muslim rebels who targeted 30 police posts on Friday that left 32 people dead.
The clash, which was the worst since October 2016, has prompted the government to evacuate staff and thousands of non-Muslim villagers.
The special evacuation of non-Muslim residents was done because the insurgency came from the ethnic Rohingya Muslim minority, who have been treated as illegal immigrants.
Tens of thousands of Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh since the first outbreak of violence occurred in October 2016, in which militants killed nine policemen at the post bordering Rakhine.
Fierce clashes took place on the outskirts of Maungdaw, according to residents and authorities. The attacks marked a dramatic increase in the conflict that has spread across the region since last October.
In addition, the latest violence in Rakhine, Myanmar in the last three days, again influenced a wave of Rohingya Muslims to flee across the border into Bangladesh.
STRAITS TIMES | BOSTON HERALD | SITA PLANASARI AQUADINI
