DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh lodged a protest after it said Myanmar had laid landmines near the border between the two countries, government officials said on Wednesday, amid growing tensions over the huge influx of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar.

An army crackdown triggered by an attack on Aug. 25 by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces has led to the killing of at least 400 people and the exodus of nearly 125,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh, leading to a major humanitarian crisis.

When asked whether Bangladesh had lodged the complaint, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said “yes” without elaborating. Three other government sources confirmed that a protest note was faxed to Myanmar in the morning saying the Buddhist-majority country was violating international norms.

“Bangladesh has expressed great concern to Myanmar about the explosions very close to the border,” a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The source asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

A Myanmar military source said landmines were laid along the border in the 1990s to prevent trespassing and the military had since tried to remove them. But none had been planted recently.

Two Bangladeshi sources told Reuters they believed Myanmar security forces were putting the landmines in their territory along the barbed-wire fence between a series of border pillars. Both sources said Bangladesh learned about the landmines mainly through photographic evidence and informers.

“Our forces have also seen three to four groups working near the barbed wire fence, putting something into the ground,” one of the sources said. “We then confirmed with our informers that they were laying land mines.”

The sources did not clarify if the groups were in uniform, but added that they were sure they were not Rohingya insurgents.

FILE PHOTO: A Rohingya man carrying his belongings approaches the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Bandarban, an area under Cox's Bazar authority, Bangladesh, August 29, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Bangladesh border guard officer, told Reuters earlier that two blasts were heard on Tuesday on the Myanmar side, after two on Monday fueled speculation that Myanmar forces had laid land mines.

One boy had his left leg blown off on Tuesday near a border crossing before being brought to Bangladesh for treatment, while another boy suffered minor injuries, Khan said, adding that the blast could have been a mine explosion.

A Rohingya refugee who went to the site of the blast on Monday - on a footpath near where civilians fleeing violence are huddled in a no man’s land on the border - filmed what appeared to be a mine: a metal disc about 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter partially buried in the mud. He said he believed there were two more such devices buried in the ground.

Two refugees also told Reuters they saw members of the Myanmar army around the site in the immediate period preceding the Monday blasts, which occurred around 2:25 p.m.

Reuters was unable to independently verify that the planted devices were land mines and that there was any link to the Myanmar army.

The Myanmar army has not commented on the blasts near the border. Zaw Htay, the spokesman for Myanmar’s national leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was not immediately available for comment.

On Monday, he told Reuters clarification was needed to determine “where did it explode, who can go there and who laid those land mines. Who can surely say those mines were not laid by the terrorists?”

The Bangladesh interior ministry secretary, Mostafa Kamal Uddin, did not respond to calls seeking comment.

FILE PHOTO: Rohingya refugees walk on the muddy path after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 3, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

The border pillars mentioned by the Dhaka-based sources mark the boundaries of the two countries, along which Myanmar has a portion of barbed wire fencing. Most of the two countries’ 217-km-long border is porous.

“They are not doing anything on Bangladeshi soil,” said one of the sources. “But we have not seen such laying of land mines in the border before.”

Myanmar, which was under military rule until recently and is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, is one of the few countries that have not signed the 1997 U.N. Mine Ban Treaty.</s>(CNN) They have been raped, tortured and killed. They have been crowded on boats, ping-ponged between nations that don't want them. They have been forced into labor and have no rights to their land.

In the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, fierce clashes between security forces and Rohingya militants have left hundreds dead. In the past 12 days, around 123,000 Rohingya have fled the country and crossed into Bangladesh, UN figures show

Rohingya walk through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh border on Friday last week.

Satellite images released by Human Rights Watch showed entire villages torched to the ground in the ongoing violence.

How did it come to this? Here's what you need to know:

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic-minority group that has lived as a people in Myanmar for centuries.

Today, more than a million of them live in the country, most in the western coastal state of Rakhine, where they make up around a third of the population. They speak their own language, which isn't recognized by the state.

There are regular clashes between the Rohingya and the country's security forces, as well as other ethnic groups in Rakhine, which are predominantly Buddhist. Rohingya militant groups are often involved in the clashes.

Even Buddhist monks have been accused of inciting violence against the Rohingya there and led a boycott movement against them during deadly clashes in 2012.

A community of Rohingya refugees also live in Bangladesh and some migrate to Malaysia, where they typically work illegally, the men often laboring.

Why aren't they recognized as Burmese?

Having had such a long history in Myanmar, the Rohingya's ethnicity is more complex than the government makes out.

The government has argued that the Rohingya descend from farmers from what is now called Bangladesh. Many arrived in large numbers during British rule, from 1824 to 1948, when Myanmar was considered a province of British-administered India. The Rohingya were sent there as laborers, in what Britain considered an internal migration.

Many Rohingya, however, say they are descendants of Muslim traders, who can be traced back to the 9th Century. In reality, there is likely to be a mix of ethnicities among them.

When Myanmar gained independence in 1948, the Rohingya were able to apply for identity cards, which offered some rights, and some even served in Parliament.

But after a military coup in 1962, the Rohingya lost this status and were considered foreigners. They were granted foreign identity cards.

In 1982, a citizenship law only allowed the Rohingya to apply for citizenship if they could speak an officially recognized language and had proof their family had lived in the country before independence. But most Rohingya were never granted the paperwork to prove their roots, so they were effectively rendered stateless.

What is life like for them in Myanmar?

The Rohingya have faced repression since the 1970s, but more intensively since 2011, when the government transformed from a military administration to a civilian one.

There had been hope at that time that their situation would improve, but their repression has only intensified. They remain left off a national list of 135 recognized ethnicities in Myanmar.

Now, the Rohingya cannot access the same resources and services that Myanmar's predominantly Buddhist citizens can. Despite this lack of recognition, they are not allowed to leave their settlements in Rakhine without government approval.

Many live in Rakhine in impoverished camps, and others spend periods in internally displaced people's settlements in other states after fleeing violence.

What does Bangladesh say?

Bangladesh does not consider the Rohingya to be Bangladeshi.

The country sometimes allows the Rohingya to live in camps on its border, but on other occasions, it simply sends them back to Myanmar. Those who stay, live as illegal immigrants, which usually means a life of poverty, without the right to work or access to education.

Indonesians, however, have shown solidarity with the Rohingya, carrying out regular protests to support them. Indonesia is the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation and the Rohingya issue has resonated there.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, seen as a national hero in Myanmar and the face of a free civilian government, has come under intense international criticism for failing to openly support the Rohingya.

Suu Kyi has repeatedly denied accusations of human rights abuses against the Rohingya, and in April denied to the BBC that ethnic cleansing was taking place.

"Over the last several years, I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment. I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same," Yousafzai wrote.

"The world is waiting and the Rohingya Muslims are waiting."

Tens of thousands of people have marched through Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechen Republic. Like Indonesia, Chechnya is predominantly Muslim.

Protests in Chechnya are heavily regulated and typically orchestrated by authorities.

CNN's former Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty said that the protests could be an effort by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to position himself as a global Muslim leader.

On his official Instagram account, Kadyrov labeled attacks on Rohingya as "genocide."</s>Myanmar has been laying landmines across a section of its border with Bangladesh for the past three days, according to reports citing two government sources in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.

The sources say the purpose may be to prevent the return of Rohingya Muslims fleeing the violence.

Bangladesh will on Wednesday formally lodge a protest against the laying of landmines so close to the border, the sources - who had direct knowledge of the situation but asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter - told Reuters news agency.

Since the latest round of violence began in Myanmar's Rakhine state, at least 400 people have been killed, and nearly 125,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, leading to a major humanitarian crisis.

"They are putting the landmines in their territory along the barbed-wire fence" between a series of border pillars, one of the sources told Reuters.

READ MORE: Who are the Rohingya Muslims?

Both sources said Bangladesh learned about the landmines mainly through photographic evidence and informers.

"Our forces have also seen three to four groups working near the barbed wire fence, putting something into the ground," one of the sources said.

"We then confirmed with our informers that they were laying landmines."

The sources did not clarify if the groups were in uniform, but added that they were sure they were not Rohingya.

Reacting to the reports, Phone Tint, Rakhine's minister for border affairs, told Al Jazeera: "We did not do such a thing."

In Pictures: The perilous journey of Rohingya refugees

Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Bangladeshi border guard officer, told Reuters earlier that two blasts were heard on Tuesday on the Myanmar side.

Two similar blasts on Monday had already prompted speculation that Myanmar forces had laid landmines.

One boy had his left leg blown off on Tuesday near a border crossing before being brought to Bangladesh for treatment, while another boy suffered minor injuries, Khan said, adding that the blast could have been a mine explosion.

A Rohingya refugee who went to the site of the blast on Monday - on a footpath near where civilians fleeing violence are huddled in what is being described as "no man's land" on the border - filmed what appeared to be a mine: a metal disc about 10cm in diameter partially buried in the mud.

He said he believed there were two more such devices buried in the ground.

Two refugees also told Reuters they saw members of the Myanmar army around the site in the immediate period preceding the Monday blasts, which occurred at around 2:25pm local time (07:55 GMT).

Reuters was unable to independently verify that the planted devices were landmines and that there was any link to the Myanmar army.

Myanmar's army has not commented on the blasts near the border.

Zaw Htay, spokesperson for Myanmar's national leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was not immediately available for comment.

On Monday, Htay told Reuters that clarification was needed.

"Where did it explode, who can go there and who laid those landmines. Who can surely say those mines were not laid by the terrorists?" he said.

No comment

The border pillars mentioned by the Dhaka-based sources demarcate the boundaries of the two countries, along which Myanmar has a portion of barbed wire fencing.

Most of the two countries' 217km-long border is porous.

"They are not doing anything on Bangladeshi soil," one of the sources said.

"But we have not seen such laying of landmines in the border before."

READ MORE: Persecution of all Muslims in Myanmar 'on the rise'

Myanmar, which was under military rule until recently, is one of the few countries that have not signed the 1997 UN Mine Ban Treaty.

The more than one million Rohingya in Myanmar are seen as illegal immigrants in the mainly Buddhist country.

They have been forced to live under apartheid-like restrictions on movement and citizenship.

The areas where Rohingya live, mainly in Rakhine, have been under a constant military crackdown, with reports of extrajudicial killings, rape, arson and torture by security forces - allegations the government has denied.

Antonio Guterres , UN secretary-general, called on the government of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday to end the violence against the Rohingya.

He warned of "regional destabilisation" if the violence continues.

Myanmar contends the security crackdowns are necessary to fight "terrorism".

In a statement issued by her office on Facebook, Aung San Suu Kyi said the government had "already started defending all the people in Rakhine in the best way possible" and warned against misinformation that could mar relations with other countries.

Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from the United Nations headquarters in New York, said: "There is a real concern from the UN about the humanitarian situation because of this human exodus and the sheer number of people crossing the border into Bangladesh."

The UN Security Council met last week to discuss the crisis, but there was no formal statement following the closed-door meeting.</s>Myanmar has been laying landmines across a section of its border with Bangladesh for the past three days, said two government sources in Dhaka, adding that the purpose may have been to prevent the return of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence. Bangladesh will on Wednesday formally lodge a protest against the laying of land mines so close to the border, said the sources who had direct knowledge of the situation but asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. An army crackdown triggered by an attack on Aug. 25 by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces has led to the killing of at least 400 people and the exodus of nearly 125,000 Rohingya to neighbouring Bangladesh, leading to a major humanitarian crisis.”They are putting the landmines in their territory along the barbed-wire fence” between a series of border pillars, said one of the sources. Both sources said Bangladesh learned about the landmines mainly through photographic evidence and informers. “Our forces have also seen three to four groups working near the barbed wire fence, putting something into the ground,” one of the sources said. “We then confirmed with our informers that they were laying land mines.”

The sources did not clarify if the groups were in uniform, but added that they were sure they were not Rohingya insurgents. Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Bangladesh border guard officer, told Reuters earlier that two blasts were heard on Tuesday on the Myanmar side, after two on Monday fuelled speculation that Myanmar forces had laid land mines. One boy had his left leg blown off on Tuesday near a border crossing before being brought to Bangladesh for treatment, while another boy suffered minor injuries, Khan said, adding that the blast could have been a mine explosion. A Rohingya refugee who went to the site of the blast on Monday – on a footpath near where civilians fleeing violence are huddled in a no man’s land on the border – filmed what appeared to be a mine: a metal disc about 10 centimetres (4 inches) in diameter partially buried in the mud. He said he believed there were two more such devices buried in the ground.Two refugees also told Reuters they saw members of the Myanmar army around the site in the immediate period preceding the Monday blasts, which occurred around 2:25 p.m.

Reuters was unable to independently verify that the planted devices were land mines and that there was any link to the Myanmar army. Myanmar army has not commented on the blasts near the border. Zaw Htay, the spokesman for Myanmar’s national leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was not immediately available for comment. On Monday, he told Reuters clarification was needed to determine “where did it explode, who can go there and who laid those land mines. Who can surely say those mines were not laid by the terrorists?” The Bangladesh interior ministry secretary, Mostafa Kamal Uddin, did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The border pillars mentioned by the Dhaka-based sources demarcate the boundaries of the two countries, along which Myanmar has a portion of barbed wire fencing. Most of the two countries’ 217-km-long border is porous. “They are not doing anything on Bangladeshi soil,” said one of the sources. “But we have not seen such laying of land mines in the border before.” Myanmar, which was under military rule until recently and is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, is one of the few countries that have not signed the 1997 U.N. Mine Ban Treaty.</s>The Catholic Church of Myanmar is getting ready to welcome Pope Francis in less than 3 months, according to a report on Vatican Radio. The Vatican announced on Aug. 28 that the Pope will make a 2-nation apostolic visit that will first take him to Myanmar, Nov 27 to 30, then to neighbouring Bangladesh, Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.

The Holy See and Myanmar established full diplomatic relations between them shortly after a private meeting between Pope Francis and State Counsellor and Foreign Minister of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi in the Vatican on May 4. ‎On August 12, the pontiff appointed Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam as apostolic nuncio to the country.

Of Myanmar’s some 51. 4 million mostly Buddhist population, Catholics number only about 700,000, according to the country’s cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon.</s>(CNN) They have been raped, tortured and killed. They have been crowded on boats, ping-ponged between nations that don't want them. They have been forced into labor and have no rights to their land.

In the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, fierce clashes between security forces and Rohingya militants have left hundreds dead. In the past 12 days, around 123,000 Rohingya have fled the country and crossed into Bangladesh, UN figures show

Rohingya walk through rice fields after crossing over to the Bangladesh border on Friday last week.

Satellite images released by Human Rights Watch showed entire villages torched to the ground in the ongoing violence.

How did it come to this? Here's what you need to know:

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic-minority group that has lived as a people in Myanmar for centuries.

Today, more than a million of them live in the country, most in the western coastal state of Rakhine, where they make up around a third of the population. They speak their own language, which isn't recognized by the state.

There are regular clashes between the Rohingya and the country's security forces, as well as other ethnic groups in Rakhine, which are predominantly Buddhist. Rohingya militant groups are often involved in the clashes.

Even Buddhist monks have been accused of inciting violence against the Rohingya there and led a boycott movement against them during deadly clashes in 2012.

A community of Rohingya refugees also live in Bangladesh and some migrate to Malaysia, where they typically work illegally, the men often laboring.

Why aren't they recognized as Burmese?

Having had such a long history in Myanmar, the Rohingya's ethnicity is more complex than the government makes out.

The government has argued that the Rohingya descend from farmers from what is now called Bangladesh. Many arrived in large numbers during British rule, from 1824 to 1948, when Myanmar was considered a province of British-administered India. The Rohingya were sent there as laborers, in what Britain considered an internal migration.

Many Rohingya, however, say they are descendants of Muslim traders, who can be traced back to the 9th Century. In reality, there is likely to be a mix of ethnicities among them.

When Myanmar gained independence in 1948, the Rohingya were able to apply for identity cards, which offered some rights, and some even served in Parliament.

But after a military coup in 1962, the Rohingya lost this status and were considered foreigners. They were granted foreign identity cards.

In 1982, a citizenship law only allowed the Rohingya to apply for citizenship if they could speak an officially recognized language and had proof their family had lived in the country before independence. But most Rohingya were never granted the paperwork to prove their roots, so they were effectively rendered stateless.

What is life like for them in Myanmar?

The Rohingya have faced repression since the 1970s, but more intensively since 2011, when the government transformed from a military administration to a civilian one.

There had been hope at that time that their situation would improve, but their repression has only intensified. They remain left off a national list of 135 recognized ethnicities in Myanmar.

Now, the Rohingya cannot access the same resources and services that Myanmar's predominantly Buddhist citizens can. Despite this lack of recognition, they are not allowed to leave their settlements in Rakhine without government approval.

Many live in Rakhine in impoverished camps, and others spend periods in internally displaced people's settlements in other states after fleeing violence.

What does Bangladesh say?

Bangladesh does not consider the Rohingya to be Bangladeshi.

The country sometimes allows the Rohingya to live in camps on its border, but on other occasions, it simply sends them back to Myanmar. Those who stay, live as illegal immigrants, which usually means a life of poverty, without the right to work or access to education.

Indonesians, however, have shown solidarity with the Rohingya, carrying out regular protests to support them. Indonesia is the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation and the Rohingya issue has resonated there.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, seen as a national hero in Myanmar and the face of a free civilian government, has come under intense international criticism for failing to openly support the Rohingya.

Suu Kyi has repeatedly denied accusations of human rights abuses against the Rohingya, and in April denied to the BBC that ethnic cleansing was taking place.

"Over the last several years, I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment. I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same," Yousafzai wrote.

"The world is waiting and the Rohingya Muslims are waiting."

Tens of thousands of people have marched through Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechen Republic. Like Indonesia, Chechnya is predominantly Muslim.

Protests in Chechnya are heavily regulated and typically orchestrated by authorities.

CNN's former Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty said that the protests could be an effort by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to position himself as a global Muslim leader.

On his official Instagram account, Kadyrov labeled attacks on Rohingya as "genocide."</s>Myanmar has been laying landmines across a section of its border with Bangladesh for the past three days, said two government sources in Dhaka, adding that the purpose may have been to prevent the return of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence.

Bangladesh will on Wednesday formally lodge a protest against the laying of land mines so close to the border, said the sources who had direct knowledge of the situation but asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

An army crackdown triggered by an attack on Aug. 25 by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces has led to the killing of at least 400 people and the exodus of nearly 125,000 Rohingya to neighbouring Bangladesh, leading to a major humanitarian crisis.

“They are putting the landmines in their territory along the barbed-wire fence” between a series of border pillars, said one of the sources. Both sources said Bangladesh learned about the landmines mainly through photographic evidence and informers.

“Our forces have also seen three to four groups working near the barbed wire fence, putting something into the ground,” one of the sources said. “We then confirmed with our informers that they were laying land mines.”

The sources did not clarify if the groups were in uniform, but added that they were sure they were not Rohingya insurgents.

Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Bangladesh border guard officer, told Reuters earlier that two blasts were heard on Tuesday on the Myanmar side, after two on Monday fuelled speculation that Myanmar forces had laid land mines.

One boy had his left leg blown off on Tuesday near a border crossing before being brought to Bangladesh for treatment, while another boy suffered minor injuries, Khan said, adding that the blast could have been a mine explosion.

A Rohingya refugee who went to the site of the blast on Monday – on a footpath near where civilians fleeing violence are huddled in a no man’s land on the border – filmed what appeared to be a mine: a metal disc about 10 centimetres (4 inches) in diameter partially buried in the mud. He said he believed there were two more such devices buried in the ground.

Two refugees also told Reuters they saw members of the Myanmar army around the site in the immediate period preceding the Monday blasts, which occurred around 2:25 p.m.

Reuters was unable to independently verify that the planted devices were land mines and that there was any link to the Myanmar army.

Myanmar army has not commented on the blasts near the border. Zaw Htay, the spokesman for Myanmar’s national leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was not immediately available for comment.

On Monday, he told Reuters clarification was needed to determine “where did it explode, who can go there and who laid those land mines. Who can surely say those mines were not laid by the terrorists?”

The Bangladesh interior ministry secretary, Mostafa Kamal Uddin, did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The border pillars mentioned by the Dhaka-based sources demarcate the boundaries of the two countries, along which Myanmar has a portion of barbed wire fencing. Most of the two countries’ 217-km-long border is porous.

“They are not doing anything on Bangladeshi soil,” said one of the sources. “But we have not seen such laying of land mines in the border before.”

Myanmar, which was under military rule until recently and is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, is one of the few countries that have not signed the 1997 U.N. Mine Ban Treaty.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>A woman has had her leg blown off as it emerged Rohingya Muslims were having to cross minefields to reach Bangladesh.

As the news of the refugees being maimed filtered through to Indonesia, protesting Islamists in Jakarta chanted 'Allahu Akbar' and demanded punishment for Myanmar as rallies popped up across the globe.

Myanmar has been laying landmines across a section of its border with Bangladesh, said two government sources in Dhaka, adding that astonishingly the purpose may have been to prevent the return of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence.

Bangladesh will today formally lodge a protest against the laying of land mines so close to the border as the number of Rohinyas fleeing Myanmar amid clashes between insurgents and the army reached 146,000.

The source, who asked not to be named, said: 'They are putting the landmines in their territory along the barbed-wire fence.

'Our forces have also seen three to four groups working near the barbed wire fence, putting something into the ground.

'We then confirmed with our informers that they were laying land mines.'

The sources did not clarify if the groups were in uniform, but added that they were sure they were not Rohingya insurgents.

One of those who fell victim to the mines was a woman whose leg was mutilated as she tried to cross the border.

Myanmar army has not commented on the blasts near the border and the silence has added fuel to the fire.

Global protests in Chechnya, Indonesia, Pakistan, Germany and Australia have all condemned the latest developments.

Thousands of Indonesians, led by Islamist groups, held the rally near the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta on Wednesday to protest against the treatment of Rohingya Muslims and demand the snapping of ties between the two countries.

While some protesters chanted 'Allahu Akbar', meaning God is great, others shouted slogans such as 'Slaughter Myanmar' and 'Burn the embassy'.

Indonesia has the world's largest population of Muslims and there have been several anti-Myanmar protests in Jakarta and the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur over the treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar's roughly 1.1million Rohingyas.

Roads were blocked and barbed wire barriers put up around the embassy, in a leafy district of the capital, which was patrolled by police in riot gear who set up water cannons.

Around 146,000 Rohingyas have been forced to flee clashes between Rohingya insurgents and the army in Myanmar's northwestern state of Rakhine.

Tens of thousands have crossed the border into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and top security officials this week to urge a halt to the bloodshed. Marsudi also visited Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh on Tuesday, to offer help in tackling the crisis.

Some protesters at the Jakarta rally called for the expulsion of the Myanmar ambassador over the issue, as well as for diplomatic ties between the two countries to be severed.

Myanmar embassy staff would be safe, however, said a foreign ministry spokesman, Armanatha Nasir.

'It is the responsibility of the host countries to ensure the safety of all diplomatic missions and their personnel,' the spokesman said. 'Indonesia takes this responsibility seriously.'

At the weekend, a petrol bomb was thrown at the embassy causing a small fire.

Indonesian police have also pledged to bar Islamist groups from staging a rally on Friday at the Borobudur Buddhist temple in central Java to protest against the treatment of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims.</s>Global outrage over Myanmar's treatment of its Rohingya Muslims is being fuelled by "a huge iceberg of misinformation", Aung San Suu Kyi said on Wednesday, after the UN led calls for her government to end violence that has forced 125,000 to flee to Bangladesh.

Rohingya refugees have poured over the border with Bangladesh, fleeing a massive security sweep in western Rakhine state by Myanmar forces following a series of deadly ambushes by Rohingya militants on August 25.

Suu Kyi's government has faced growing international condemnation for the army's response with refugees bringing with them renewed stories of murder, rape and burned villages at the hands of soldiers.

But in her first public comments since last month's ambushes, she said sympathy for the Rohingya was being generated by "a huge iceberg of misinformation calculated to create a lot of problems between different communities and with the aim of promoting the interest of the terrorists".

The comments were made in a statement put out by her office following a call with Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has been particularly critical of Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya, dubbing it a "genocide".

But Suu Kyi defended her government's actions saying her administration was "defending all the people" in Rakhine state.

The statement highlighted a now deleted tweet last week by Turkey's deputy prime minister Mehmet Simsek showing a series of gruesome pictures of bodies he wrongly claimed were of dead Rohingya.

Myanmar's Rohingya are the world's largest stateless minority and have lived under apartheid-like restrictions on their movement and citizenship for years.

They largely eschewed violence but in October a new militant group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launched a series of deadly ambushes on border police prompting a massive army-led crackdown.

More than 200,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since October.

That includes 125,000 in the last two weeks, piling huge pressure on an impoverished neighbour that already hosted 400,000 Rohingya who had fled Myanmar over the past four decades.

The latest violence has also hit Rakhine's Buddhist and Hindu populations with nearly 27,000 people displaced and fleeing in the opposite direction.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who spent years under house arrest when Myanmar was under military rule, has come under intense pressure over her refusal to speak out against the treatment of the Rohingya or rein in the army.

Analysts say her obduracy despite the years of pressure from rights groups is a sop to the powerful army and surging Buddhist nationalism in the Southeast Asian country.

The Rohingya are widely dismissed in Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh despite many tracing their lineage back generations.

They are not formally recognised as an ethnic group and are derided by many in Myanmar as "Bengalis" -- making supporting them hugely unpopular.

She also has little control over the army, which has a long track record of rights abuses and using overwhelming force against domestic insurgencies.

But detractors say Suu Kyi is one of the few people with the mass appeal and moral authority to swim against the tide on the issue, adding she has routinely defended the military's response.

Earlier this year United Nations investigators said Myanmar's military has used "devastating cruelty" in its security crackdown in what might constitute ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

Suu Kyi's government has dismissed those allegations and has refused to grant visas to UN officials charged with investigating reports of atrocities.</s>Myanmar has been laying landmines across a section of its border with Bangladesh for the past three days, said two government sources in Dhaka, adding that the purpose may have been to prevent the return of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence.

Bangladesh will on Wednesday formally lodge a protest against the laying of land mines so close to the border, said the sources who had direct knowledge of the situation but asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

An army crackdown triggered by an attack on Aug. 25 by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces has led to the killing of at least 400 people and the exodus of nearly 125,000 Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh, leading to a major humanitarian crisis.

“They are putting the landmines in their territory along the barbed-wire fence” between a series of border pillars, said one of the sources. Both sources said Bangladesh learned about the landmines mainly through photographic evidence and informers.

“Our forces have also seen three to four groups working near the barbed wire fence, putting something into the ground,” one of the sources said. “We then confirmed with our informers that they were laying land mines.”



The sources did not clarify if the groups were in uniform, but added that they were sure they were not Rohingya insurgents.

Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Bangladesh border guard officer, told Reuters earlier that two blasts were heard on Tuesday on the Myanmar side, after two on Monday fueled speculation that Myanmar forces had laid land mines.

One boy had his left leg blown off on Tuesday near a border crossing before being brought to Bangladesh for treatment, while another boy suffered minor injuries, Khan said, adding that the blast could have been a mine explosion.

A Rohingya refugee who went to the site of the blast on Monday - on a footpath near where civilians fleeing violence are huddled in a no man’s land on the border - filmed what appeared to be a mine: a metal disc about 10 centimeters (4 inches) in diameter partially buried in the mud. He said he believed there were two more such devices buried in the ground.

Two refugees also told Reuters they saw members of the Myanmar army around the site in the immediate period preceding the Monday blasts, which occurred around 2:25 p.m.

Reuters was unable to independently verify that the planted devices were land mines and that there was any link to the Myanmar army.

Myanmar army has not commented on the blasts near the border. Zaw Htay, the spokesman for Myanmar’s national leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was not immediately available for comment.

On Monday, he told Reuters clarification was needed to determine “where did it explode, who can go there and who laid those land mines. Who can surely say those mines were not laid by the terrorists?”

The Bangladesh interior ministry secretary, Mostafa Kamal Uddin, did not respond to calls seeking comment.



The border pillars mentioned by the Dhaka-based sources demarcate the boundaries of the two countries, along which Myanmar has a portion of barbed wire fencing. Most of the two countries’ 217-km-long border is porous.

“They are not doing anything on Bangladeshi soil,” said one of the sources. “But we have not seen such laying of land mines in the border before.”

Myanmar, which was under military rule until recently and is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, is one of the few countries that have not signed the 1997 U.N. Mine Ban Treaty.
Bangladesh accuses the Myanmar Army of laying landmines on the border between both countries to prevent the return of fleeing Rohingya refugees. Myanmar denies the Bangladeshi claims.