Rohingya are trying to flee to Bangladesh with renewed violence in Myanmar

Arakan News Agency
BANGLADESH (Reuters) – Authorities have arrested nearly 1,000 Muslim Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar on the border with Bangladesh as fighting raged in Arakan state in northwestern Myanmar, security officials said on Saturday.
The Myanmar army said the death toll from attacks by Rohingya gunmen on Friday rose to 89, including 77 militants and 12 members of the security forces.
The attacks have been a major escalation in a simmering conflict since a similar attack in October that led to a major military operation plagued by allegations of serious human rights violations.
A security source in Myanmar said at least one new attack took place on Saturday.
Aung San Suu Kyi condemned the attacks early on Friday, when rebels from the Rohingya with weapons, sticks and homemade bombs attacked 30 police posts and an army base as the government postponed staff and villagers to safe areas.
The handling of some 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims in the country is the biggest challenge to the 16-month-old government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi is accused of not defending the oppressed minority and defending the brutal counter-attack of the army after the October attacks.
One of the border guards in Bangladesh and deputy governor of the Cox-bazar region near the border with Myanmar, Mohamed Ali Hussein, told Reuters about 1,000 Rohingya people had arrived via the Naf River, which separates Myanmar from Bangladesh and was stranded there.
“Many Rohingya are trying to enter the country but we will not allow anyone to enter,” Hussein said.
Bangladeshi officials often call for a strict approach with refugees in formal interviews, but it ends with access. There are hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and 87,000 have arrived since October.
The government said it had evacuated officials, teachers and hundreds of non-Rohingya villagers to army bases and major police stations.
“Some will be evacuated by helicopters and other security forces will be transferred,” a military source in Arakan told Reuters.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was a defense against the Myanmar army.
In the aftermath of the attacks, Myanmar declared the group, formerly known as the Faith Movement, a terrorist organization. The Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing said they were discussing issues including the deployment of more security forces and the use of helicopters.”