At least 6,700
Rohingya were killed in the month after violence broke out in Myanmar in
August, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says.
Based on surveys of
refugees in Bangladesh, the number is much higher than Myanmar's official
figure of 400.
MSF said it was
"the clearest indication yet of the widespread violence" by Myanmar
authorities.
The Myanmar military
blames the violence on "terrorists" and has denied any wrongdoing. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41975331
More than 647,000
Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh since August, MSF says.
Is the
refugee crisis 'textbook ethnic cleansing'? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41566561
Seeing
through the official story in Myanmar https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41222210
The
injured sheltering in Bangladesh https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42022546
What
sparked the Rakhine violence? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41082689
The aid group's
survey found that at least 9,000 Rohingya died in Myanmar, also known as Burma,
between 25 August and 24 September.
"In the most
conservative estimations" at least 6,700 of those deaths have been caused
by violence, including at least 730 children under the age of five, according
to MSF.
Previously, the
armed forces stated that around 400 people had been killed; most of them
described as Muslim terrorists.
----------------------------------------
A case for the
International Criminal Court?
Jonathan
Head, South East Asia correspondent
Rohingya crisis:
'Rape and murder' in the Village of Tula Toli - BBC News https://youtu.be/irQhr9DOfbg
There have been
plenty of detailed reports by journalists and researchers, based on interviews
conducted with refugees, which make it hard to dispute that terrible human rights
abuses took place at the hands of the security forces.
But many of these
reports focussed on the worst cases; there are several media reports about a
massacre at one village called Tula Toli. Some Rohingya I interviewed told me
they had fled in fear of violence, but had not actually experienced it.
This well-researched
figure by MSF suggests the operation conducted by the military was brutal
enough to raise the possibility of taking a case to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
The problem would be
that Myanmar has not ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC and is not bound to
co-operate with it. Bringing a case would require the approval of all five
permanent members of the UN Security Council, and China has until now given its
full support to the Myanmar government's handling of the crisis.
'A Muslim village
was burning' https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41189564
The truth about
Rohingya militants https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41521268
-----------------------------------
The military
crackdown began on 25 August after Rohingya Arsa militants attacked more than
30 police posts.
After an internal
investigation, the Myanmar army in November exonerated itself of any blame
regarding the crisis. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41975331
It denied killing
any civilians, burning their villages, raping women and girls, and stealing
possessions.
The mostly Muslim
minority are denied citizenship by Myanmar, where they are seen as immigrants
from Bangladesh. The government does not use the term Rohingya but calls them
Bengali Muslims.
The government's
assertions contradicted evidence seen by BBC correspondents. The United Nations
human rights chief has said it seems like "a textbook example of ethnic
cleansing".
"What we
uncovered was staggering, both in terms of the numbers of people who reported a
family member died as a result of violence, and the horrific ways in which they
said they were killed or severely injured," MSF Medical Director Sidney
Wong said.
According to MSF:
69% of the
violence-related deaths were caused by gunshots
9% were due to being
burnt to death in their houses
5% were beaten to
death.
Among the dead
children below the age of five, MSF says more than 59% were reportedly shot,
15% burnt to death, 7% beaten to death and 2% killed by landmine blasts.
"The numbers of
deaths are likely to be an underestimation as we have not surveyed all refugee
settlements in Bangladesh and because the surveys don't account for the
families who never made it out of Myanmar," Mr Wong said.
In November,
Bangladesh signed a deal with Myanmar to return hundreds of thousands of the
refugees. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42094060
MSF said the agreement
was "premature" pointing out that "currently people are still
fleeing" and reports of violence have come even in recent weeks.
The group also
warned there was still very limited access for aid groups into Rakhine state.
The Rohingya are stateless
Muslim minority who has long experienced persecution in Myanmar.