YANGON: Myanmar’s latest religious clashes began after a Buddhist woman was paid to make false rape claims against two Muslim brothers, state media reported yesterday.
Two men — a Buddhist and a Muslim — died in riots in the country’s second city Mandalay that flared on July 1 following social media reports that the Muslim men had raped a Buddhist employee at their tea shop.
More than 20 others were wounded as violence rocked the city for several days, the latest in a series of religious clashes that have bedevilled the former junta-run nation for two years.
But a police investigation found the woman was paid to fabricate the accusation against the men, the New Light of Myanmar reported.
The report said a medical examination of the woman — named as Phyu Phyu Min — found “no sign of rape or other violence”.
“After a detailed investigation she confessed that she accused the two men because she was paid” to do so by two other people who apparently had a personal dispute with the tea shop owners.
The woman has been arrested along with one of the people alleged to have paid her, the report said.
Buddhist-Muslim clashes have killed at least 250 people since fighting broke out in Rakhine in 2012.
AFP
