Women report mass rapes and looting by military as violence against Rohingya explodes in northwest Myanmar

• Locals from U Shey Kya village allege that soldiers stormed their homes, committed mass rape, stole valuables, and burned homes, accusations dismissed as “illogical” and “propaganda” by governmental spokespeople.
• The raids in northern Rakhine State follow coordinated attacks by an emergent group of Rohingya militants on multiple border patrol posts, leading to nine police officers’ and five soldiers’ deaths.
• Many homes in the village were left with only women after men evacuated from fear of being indiscriminately identified as insurgents, with many fearing disregard of recently imposed political constraints on the Burmese military.

Read more:
“Exclusive: Rohingya women say Myanmar soldiers raped them amid crackdown on militants” (Reuters)
“Dozens of rapes reported in northern Rakhine State” (The Myanmar Times)
“Calls Grow for Access to Western Myanmar in Face of Military Lockdown” (The New York Times)

(Image Credit: Ye Aung Thu/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images, via The New York Times)