HONG KONG — At least 46 people believed to be Rohingya fleeing violence in western Myanmar have been found dead on the banks of a river along the boundary with Bangladesh, Bangladeshi officials said on Friday.
The dead — 19 children, 18 women and 9 men — were found at points along the Naf River over the past three days, the officials said.
“We believe they were Rohingyas,” said Lt. Col. S. M. Ariful Islam, commanding officer of the local border guard battalion. “They died because their boats capsized when they were coming to Bangladesh by boat from Myanmar.”
An Associated Press photo showed Bangladeshi villagers on a beach covering the bodies of dead Rohingya women and children with a tarp.
The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group that faces oppression in Myanmar, which denies them citizenship rights.
Last week a Rohingya militant group attacked police posts and a military base in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, near the country’s border with Bangladesh. More than 100 people were killed, including at least 12 members of the security forces and 80 militants.
Following those attacks, Myanmar security forces and armed local residents carried out a campaign of mass violence against Rohingya that killed more than 200 people in Chut Pyin, a village in Rakhine State, according toFortify Rights, a human rights group that focuses on Southeast Asia. The organization based its report on interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses.
“The situation is dire,” Matthew Smith, chief executive of Fortify Rights,said in the group’s statement. “Mass atrocity crimes are continuing. The civilian government and military need to do everything in their power to immediately prevent more attacks.”
The violence touched off an exodus of Rohingya to Bangladesh, where more than 300,000 Rohingya live in squalid refugee camps. Since the fighting began one week ago, at least 27,000 people have crossed into Bangladesh, with another 20,000 stranded between the two countries.
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