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Sri Lankan Buddhist monks attack Rohingya refugees

UN forced to relocate 31 migrants following storming of shelter outside Colombo
Sri Lankan Buddhist monks attack Rohingya refugees

Soldiers distribute rice to young Rohingya refugees at a refugee camp near Gumdhum, in Bangladesh on Sept 25, 2017. (Photo by Dominique Faget/AFP)

 

Published: September 27, 2017 09:21 AM GMT
Updated: September 27, 2017 09:24 AM GMT

Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka have attacked a shelter for Rohingya refugees and forced United Nations authorities to relocate them, officials said Sept. 26.

A group 31 refugees was housed in a detention center outside the capital Colombo after being found adrift in a boat by Sri Lankan authorities after fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

One of the monks who broke into the U.N. shelter was caught on video saying, "These are Rohingya terrorists who killed Buddhist monks in Myanmar."

Also on Sept. 26 Human Rights Watch accused the Myanmar military of committing "crimes against humanity" as hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims flee the violence in Rakhine State.

"The Burmese military is brutally expelling the Rohingya from northern Rakhine State," said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch. "The massacres of villagers and mass arson driving people from their homes are all crimes against humanity."

The latest round of violence in Rakhine erupted on Aug. 25 when Rohingya insurgents attacked security posts.

More than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence being meted out by the Myanmar military, reports say. According to the United Nations, 45,000 people have fled to Bangladesh in last two days.

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