At least 10 people killed in Buddhist-Muslims riots in Meiktila

A riot has sparked anew in Central Myanmar between Buddhist and Muslim last Thursday with 10 people reported to have been killed in the incident, AFP news reported.

The United States has expressed its concern and bothered by the latest communal violence. According to police authorities the conflict started after an argument in a Muslim-owned gold became worst that led about 200 people to fight on the streets.

Win Htein, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party witnessed the incident and disclosed that dead bodies were seen in the streets of Meiktila town.

He further added that of the 80,000 population in this town, 30,000 of them are Muslim and have never seen violence like this in his entire life. He even compared this recent incident to that of the Rakhine unrest that occurred last year.

Police reports confirmed the death of two people including a Buddhist monk who suffered burns and a number of mosques were burned down by irate crowds.

Despite the implementation of curfew in that area for overnight, the conflict burst out again on Thursday morning giving police authorities' hard time to stop it.

A local resident who have witnessed the hostility revealed that groups of people are on the streets armed with knives and sticks making the situation worst.

The conflict between the Muslim and Buddhist in Rakhine has recorded 180 people killed while more than 110,000 people were relocated since June 2012.

According to Ambassador Derek Mitchell, they are personally monitoring the latest incident and expressed his deepest sympathy to the family of those victims who suffered injuries and others who died in the unrest. Properties were also damaged during the violence, said news report from AFP.

Muslims in Myanmar are composed largely of Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi descent representing about 4% of the 60 million populations. The government has not done any census in about three decades. Muslims entered Myanmar en masse as indentured labourers from the Indian subcontinent during British colonial rule which ended in 1948.

Original source: http://www.betweenonline.com/2013/03/21/at-least-10-people-killed-in-buddhist-muslims-riots-in-meiktila/