Thousands more Rohingya refugees have crossed the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh over the past 48 hours, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.
The UNHCR estimates that between 10,000 and 15,000 are waiting near the border in Bangladesh after fleeing their villages that were set on fire.
“As of this morning, they are still squatting in the paddy fields of Anjuman Para village in Bangladesh,” UNHCR Spokesman Andrej Mahecic told a news briefing Tuesday.
“They are waiting for permission to move away from the border, where the sound of gunfire continues to be heard every night from the Myanmar side.”
Drone footage from the agency shows thousands of Rohingya lined up for kilometers in what appears to be a rain-swollen creek in southern Bangladesh.
In recent weeks, more than half a million Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh. Violence erupted August 25 between Rohingya and Myanmar’s military in Rakhine state, when a group of Rohingya militants attacked dozens of police posts and an army base in what militants said was an effort to protect members of their ethnic minority from persecution.
About 400 people have been killed in subsequent clashes.
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