Arakan News Agency
Myanmar army soldiers shot dead hundreds of Rohingya minority Muslims fleeing the fighting in the northwestern state of Arakan on Saturday, AFP reported.
The agency said soldiers used mortars and heavy machine guns to target Muslims on their way to neighboring Bangladesh. The shooting took place at the border center, where villagers have been gathering since Friday.
On Saturday, some 2,000 Rohingya women and children gathered on the border with Bangladesh, but the Myanmar authorities refused to allow them to cross.
At least 92 rebels and government troops have been killed in the latest fighting, which continues until Saturday.
The authorities confirmed the deaths of at least 77 Rohingya militants during the clashes, the highest toll recorded in one day since the emergence of the Arakan Army to save the Rohingya last year.
This movement asserts that it is fighting in defense of the Rohingya against the persecution of the security forces and the Buddhist majority in Arakan, accusing both parties of seeking to expel the Rohingya from the state.
The Myanmar authorities do not know Muslims in the state and consider them undesirable immigrants, and the United Nations says that the Rohingya, numbering one million, is the most persecuted minority in the world.
