A man looks at buildings on fire during riots at Oakkan village, 100km north of Yangon. Rioters attacked a mosque and Muslim businesses in central Myanmar.
Oakkan: Religious violence that saw mobs attack mosques and torch homes left at least one dead in central Myanmar, authorities said yesterday, as anti-Muslim unrest crept closer to the commercial hub Yangon.
Riots broke out Tuesday in the small town of Oakkan, around 100km north of Yangon, after a woman accidentally bumped into a young monk, authorities said, amid acute Buddhist-Muslim tensions after a series of attacks in March.
“A man died in hospital of his injuries this morning,” a local police official said, adding that nine others were injured.
Authorities have arrested 18 people after a series of arson attacks on Tuesday evening, president’s spokesman Ye Htut said.
Terrified villagers of both faiths said police were not there to protect them when a crowd attacked a local mosque in Mie Laung Sakhan village.
“About 200 to 300 people arrived in our village on motorcycles and destroyed the mosque. All the villagers ran away. We were scared and didn’t resist. They destroyed until they were satisfied,” Soe Myint said.
The village mosque was seriously damaged and around 10 homes burned, according to a journalist at the scene. No security presence was visible until late morning, when about 30 police arrived.
“We heard rumours that the mob will come and attack again this afternoon. Even we were threatened to be killed. We are also scared. We need security urgently,” Than Soe said.
A heavy security presence was visible yestreday morning in Oakkan, where some 30 shops in the market had been destroyed and a mosque damaged.
Religious unrest has exposed deep fractures in formerly junta-run Myanmar and cast a shadow over reforms under a quasi-civilian regime that took power two years ago. AFP
