Myanmar military burned Rohingya villages, HRW says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Satellite images could prove that villages in Myanmar's restive Rakhine State were deliberately burned to the ground, according to Human Rights Watch, CNN reports.

Rakhine state is home to the Rohingyas, a Muslim minority in Myanmar that critics say have a long history of facing persecution at the hands of the country's Buddhist majority.

The term "Rohingya" itself is denied by the government, which regards the group as illegal Bengali migrants.

The organization claims that the timing of the various incidents and their "spacial trends" offer evidence of a pattern that is "consistent with military operations and not random village acts of self-immolation."

The east-to-west movement of buildings that were burned to the ground that is consistent with a military sweep, according to Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division.

"Basic common sense tells you that the military are responsible for this," he said.

Human Rights Watch released before and after satellite images of specific villages it said had been burned.

CNN reached out to Myanmar presidential spokesman Zaw Htay who said the government would respond later.

The government has previously denied reports that the military was responsible for burning villages, placing the blame on attackers, according to state media.

But Robertson says the tactic is in line with the scorched-earth modus operandi of the Myanmar military, also referred to as the Burma army.

"We see the same kind of tactics, the same kind of lies from the Burma army when it comes to these kind of sweeps," he said.