COX'S BAZAR: Officials say three boats carrying ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar have capsized in Bangladesh and 26 bodies have been recovered.Bangladesh border guard commander Lt. Col. S M Ariful Islam said today that the bodies of 15 children and 11 women were recovered from the Naf River at Teknaf in Cox's Bazar.He said at least three boats carrying an unknown number of Rohingya Muslims had capsized yesterday and it was unclear whether anyone was still missing.Last week, Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts in Myanmar, triggering fighting with security forces that left more than 100 people dead and forced at least 18,000 Rohingya to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.The top official in Cox's Bazar, Mohammad Ali Hossain, said the bodies would be buried because no one had claimed them. The bodies of 15 women and 11 children were recovered in Cox's Bazar after the vessels, which carried an unknown number of Rohingya, sank in the Naf River on Wednesday, Bangladesh border guard commander Lieutenant Colonel S.M. On Thursday, the bodies of 11 Rohingya children and nine women washed up on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River that separates the two countries as their boat overturned, said Ariful Islam, a commander with Bangladesh's border guards. The bodies of two Rohingya women and two children had been recovered on Wednesday after their boat was fired on by Myanmar's Border Guard Police, Islam said. Ali Hossain, Cox's Bazar district's top government official, told The Associated Press that their resources were under huge stress after some 87,000 Rohingya entered Bangladesh since October last year and now another 18,000 in just one week. Last week, a group of ethnic minority Rohingya insurgents attacked at least two dozen police posts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, triggering fighting with security forces that left more than 100 people dead and forced at least 18,000 Rohingya to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh — The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that 18,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled fresh violence in Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh, with "hundreds and hundreds" stranded in no man's land at the countries' border. A majority of Myanmar's estimated 1 million Rohingya live in the northern part of Rakhine state, where they have faced persecution in the Buddhist-majority country. They face severe persecution in the Buddhist-majority country, which refuses to recognize them as a legitimate native ethnic minority, leaving them without citizenship and basic rights.
Twenty-six bodies of women and children are recovered after three boats carrying ethnic Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar sink in the Naf River in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar District.