Residents flee as police crackdown widens in northern Myanmar

A police crackdown in most parts of northern Myanmar forced inhabitants of the area to flee on Friday.

According to the Daily Star and the Myanmar Times, thousands are leaving on foot or by air, as security personnel pass through various parts of Rakhine state, including some torched areas, in search of those who were behind the recent attacks on police.

A military lockdown is in place, sparking fears of a repeat of the sectarian clashes of 2012 in the same area.

The worst affected area currently is Maungdaw town, where people have left without most of their worldly possessions, or carrying stuff in carrier bags and plastic buckets or strapped to the front of bicycle rickshaws.

So far, 26 people have died, according to state media.