Rohingya fleeing violence stuck at Bangladesh border

(27 Aug 2017) Thousands of Muslim Rohingya trying to flee Myanmar were stranded at the border with Bangladesh on Sunday, with witnesses and refugees describing the situation as tense.
Hundreds of Rohingya got stuck at one border point in Bangladesh's Bandarban district, barred from moving farther by Bangladeshi border guards.
Still, more than 2,000 Rohingya managed to enter Bangladesh overnight through two points at Teknaf in Cox's Bazar district, according to a local government official at the Kharangakhali border point.
The Rohingya are trying to flee ongoing clashes that began last week when insurgents launched attacks against police posts.
An announcement posted online by the office of Myanmar's leader, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, said the death toll from the violence that started Thursday night had reached 96, mostly alleged Rohingya attackers but also 12 security personnel.
Myanmar is overwhelmingly Buddhist, but about one (M) million Rohingya live in the northern part of Rakhine, the western state where the violence is taking place.
Advocates for the Rohingya suggest many more civilians have died in army attacks on villages, but they have not given a total.
A Rohingya insurgent group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, took responsibility for Thursday night's attacks on more than 25 locations, saying they were in defence of Rohingya communities that had been brutalised by government forces.
Clashes were continuing on Sunday, with witnesses contacted by phone in the northern Rakhine town of Maungdaw saying they could hear gunshots.
Independent confirmation of the situation is difficult because the government bars journalists from the area.

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