The United Nations Refugee Agency reports that 123,000 people—mostly Rohingya Muslims—have fled into Bangladesh since August 25, escaping a new round of violence in Burma’s western Rakhine state. The refugees have walked for days, after a series of Rohingya insurgent attacks on Burmese police were met with a strong government response and the burning of thousands of homes. The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority living in parts of a hostile and overwhelmingly Buddhist Burma. U.N. officials say their relief camps are reaching full capacity as thousands of refugees continue to cross into Bangladesh.
Thousands of Rohingya Muslims Flee Violence in Burma
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A Rohingya family reaches the Bangladesh border after crossing a creek of the Naf river, on the border with Burma, near the town of Cox's Bazar, on September 5, 2017. #
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Smoke and flames in Burma are seen from the Bangladeshi side of the border near Cox's Bazar on September 3, 2017. Thousands of homes, sometimes entire villages, are being burned in the ongoing conflict in Burma's Rakhine state. Rohingya refugees blame Burmese army forces, while Burmese officials claim Rohingya militants are responsible for the violence. Access to the area is restricted, so independent verification is difficult. #
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A Rohingya boy carries a sack of belongings on his head and walks through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh side of the border with Burma on September 1, 2017. #
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Hundreds of Rohingya people gather on a beach after fleeing their villages accusing Burma soldiers of setting their homes on fire. They were waiting to cross into Bangladesh over the border at Maungdaw on September 5, 2017. #
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Smoke billows above what is believed to be a burning village in Burma's Rakhine state as members of the Rohingya minority take shelter in a no man's land between Bangladesh and Burma, in Ukhia, on September 4, 2017. #
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Two Muslim children shelter under an umbrella in the rain in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Burma, on September 1, 2017. UN chief Antonio Guterres recently warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in western Burma and urged security forces to show restraint after hundreds were reported dead in communal violence and thousands continued to flee. #
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Rohingya refugees from Burma's Rakhine state shelter under makeshift tents after arriving at a refugee camp near the Bangladeshi town of Teknaf on Septebmer 5, 2017. #
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San Win, an ethnic Rakhine woman, who escaped from unrest in Kin Chaung village near Maungdaw, in Burma's Rakhine state, cries while holding her baby after arriving at Sittwe's jetty on August 30, 2017. #
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Burmese policemen ride a long canoe near Maungdaw as smoke rises on the horizon on August 30, 2017. Plumes of smoke billowed from several burning villages in the worst-hit section of the state, according to an AFP reporter on a government-led trip to the area, as the violence showed little sign of abating despite security sweeps by Myanmar's police and troops. #
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An exhausted Rohingya woman arrives with her children at the Kutupalong refugee camp after crossing from Burma to the Bangladesh side of the border, in Ukhia, on September 5, 2017. The family said they had lost several family members in Burma. #
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