New data has shown nearly 400 people have died in northwest Myanmar over the last week, in what is the deadliest bout of violence to engulf the country's Rohingya Muslim minority in decades.
Around 38,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar, United Nations sources said, a week after Rohingya militants attacked police posts and an army base in Rakhine state, prompting clashes and a military counteroffensive.
"As of 31 August, 38,000 people are estimated to have crossed the border into Bangladesh," the officials said on Friday, in their latest estimate.
The army says it is conducting clearance operations against "extremist terrorists" and security forces have been told to protect civilians.
However those fleeing to Bangladesh say a campaign of arson and killings aims to force them out.
The treatment of Myanmar's Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by some Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution.
The Myanmar military said yesterday that the clashes and ensuing army crackdown have killed around 370 Rohingya militants, as well as 13 security force members, two government officials and 14 civilians.
The fighting is a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when similar but much smaller Rohingya attacks on security posts prompted a brutal military response dogged by allegations of rights abuses.
Myanmar evacuated more than 11,700 "ethnic residents" from the area affected by fighting, the army said, referring to the non-Muslim population of northern Rakhine.
More than 150 Rohingya militants staged fresh attacks on security forces yesterday near villages occupied by Hindus, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said, adding that about 700 members of such families had been evacuated.
"Four of the terrorists were arrested, including one 13-year-old boy," it said, adding that security forces had arrested two more men near a police outpost on suspicion of involvement in the attacks.
UN sources have said around 20,000 more Rohingya trying to flee are stuck at the border, as aid workers in Bangladesh struggle to alleviate the sufferings of a sudden influx of thousands of hungry and traumatised people.
While some Rohingya try to cross by land, others have attempted a perilous boat journey across the Naf River separating the two countries, with Bangladesh border guards finding the bodies of 15 Rohingya Muslims floating in the river.
