YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Rohingya Muslims are quite literally being wiped off the map in Myanmar.
After attacks by Muslim militants last month, thousands of homes were burned in Rohingya enclaves of the predominantly Buddhist nation. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh.
The Arakan Project, which works to improve conditions for the ethnic minority, is documenting attacks on the three townships in in northern Rakhine state where Rohingya are concentrated.
It has found that almost every tract of villages in Maungdaw township suffered some burning, and that all of Maungdaw has been almost completely abandoned by Rohingya.
Most Rohingya villages in Rathedaung, to the north, were targeted. So were three camps for Rohingya displaced in communal riots five years ago. Buthidaung, to the east, so far has been largely spared.