Fifty People Killed in Burma Violence
According to state information agency New Light of Myanmar, 50 people have died, with 54 injured between May 28 and June 14 in Rakhine state, which has been rocked by violence between local Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya.
The report did not say whether the updated toll includes 10 Muslims beaten to death on June 3 by a Rakhine Buddhist mob in apparent revenge for the rape and murder of a woman, which sparked the violence.
A state of emergency was in force in Rakhine on Saturday with New Light saying security forces were “restoring peace, stability and security” after the unrest, which poses a serious challenge to Burma’s reform-minded government.
“Yesterday (June 14), there were only two riots in the state, and authorities concerned could handle these two cases peacefully in accord with respective law,” the report said.
Nearly 31,900 people from both sides are being housed in 37 camps across Rakhine, officials in the state capital Sittwe said on Thursday, while thousands of homes on both sides have been torched.