(DVB via AP)

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — An attack by ethnic Rohingya militants in western Myanmar left 12 security personnel and 77 Rohingya Muslims dead in a dramatic escalation of communal violence that has plagued the region, as the United States urged authorities to avoid a response that would inflame the tensions. “We must not allow our work to be derailed by the violent actions of extremists.”

ARSA took responsibility for the attacks on 30 border posts, saying they were launched in defense of Rohingya communities that had been allegedly brutalized by government forces. Suu Kyi called the attacks “a calculated attempt to undermine the efforts of those seeking to build peace and harmony in Rakhine state.”

The clashes were deadlier than an attack by the militants on three border posts last October that killed nine policemen and set off months of brutal counterinsurgency operations by Myanmar security forces against Rohingya communities in Rakhine state. The army’s abuses fueled further resentment toward the government among the Muslim Rohingya, most of whom are considered by Myanmar’s Buddhist majority to be illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh and are denied citizenship and its rights. On its Facebook page, Aung San Suu Kyi’s office said the deadly attacks were intended to coincide with Thursday’s release of a report by the Rakhine Advisory Commission led by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which recommended that the government act quickly to improve economic development and social justice in Rakhine state to end the violence between ethnic Buddhists and the Mulsim Rohingyas.
Government officials in Myanmar report that 12 security personnel (ten policemen, one soldier and one immigration officer) and 59 Rohingya insurgents were killed overnight during coordinated attacks by insurgents on at least 26 police posts and an army base in Rakhine State.