New fires burning in abandoned Rohingya village

(7 Sep 2017) New fires were burning on Thursday in a Myanmar village that had been abandoned by Rohingya Muslims. Pages from Islamic religious books were seen ripped and left on the ground in Shwe Baho. The scenes intensify doubts about government claims that members of the persecuted minority have been destroying their own homes. Journalists on a government-organised trip saw the fires on Thursday in Shwe Baho village in northern Rakhine state, from which some 146,000 Rohingya have fled since violence erupted about two weeks ago. A dozen border police officers accompanied them and closely monitored the journalists' movement during the trip. An ethnic Rakhine villager who emerged from the smoke said police and Rakhine Buddhists had set the fires. The villager ran off before he could be asked anything else. No police were seen at the village beyond those who were accompanying the journalists. But about 10 Rakhine men with machetes were seen there. Reporters saw no Rohingya in that village or others that they were allowed to see on Thursday. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...