Published: 03:33 PM, 12 September 2017
370,000 Rohingya flee Myanmar for Bangladesh: UN
Violence in Myanmar has led to 370,000 people belonging to the Muslim Rohingya minority fleeing to Bangladesh since 25 August, up from a previous estimate of 313,000, the UN International Organisation for Migration said.
"An estimated 370,000 Rohingya have entered Bangladesh after fleeing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state since August 25," Joseph Tripura, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, told AFP.
"The system is clearly at full stretch and needs all the support it can get," IOM chief spokesman Leonard Doyle said.
He declined to say how big he thought the exodus could get.
Rohingya militants attacked police posts in Rakhine state in late August, prompting a military backlash.
International pressure on Myanmar's government has increased as UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said the violence seemed to be a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing".
