UN: 480,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh

The UN office in Bangladesh on Tuesday said 480,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority have crossed into the country from Myanmar over the last month.

The Inter-Sectoral Coordination Group said in its report that the number had grown by 50,000 over the last two days, Efe news reported.

It said the increase was due to the addition of 35,000 people who had not been included in the previous report's count, as well as new arrivals in recent hours.

Despite the decrease in arrivals recorded between September 21-24, it was once again observed that many hundreds of people crossed into the country between September 25-26, the report added.

The Rohingya refugees began fleeing Myanmar from August 25 when Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) rebels attacked police checkposts and killed 12 security personnel, triggering a military crackdown.

Myanmar has said its military operations in Rakhine state were in response to the August attack and that the military was battling terrorists.

Nonprofits have denounced human rights violations and the international community has increased pressure on the Myanmar government over the military operation.

--IANS

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