3,000 Rohingya Muslims killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state since Aug 25: B'desh FM

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Tuesday said a total of 3,000 Rohingya Muslims were killed since August 25, following the army operation in the Rakhine State of Myanmar.

Tension had been escalating in the Rakhine state a month before the operation, when the Myanmar government started increasing army deployment at many points of the state, the Daily Star quoted Mahmood Ali as saying in a programme here.

He alleged Myanmar of not taking Rohingya refugees back despite the mounting international pressure.

Nearly half a million Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh due to violence in the Rakhine state that has claimed lives of at least more than 100 people and displaced several others.

Bangladesh is currently sheltering 507,000 Rohingya refugees in the country.

The Myanmar troops launched a crackdown in the Rakhine state, in response to attacks on three border posts last year that killed nine police officers; since then many Rohingya Muslims have tried to move into Bangladesh illegally.

The Rohingyas are not recognised by Myanmar as its citizens and are called Bengali by them.