COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims were trying to cross from Myanmar into Bangladesh on Saturday, following an attack by Rohingya militants in western Myanmar that left 89 people dead in a dramatic escalation of communal violence that has plagued the region. YANGON, Myanmar — 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. National leader Aung San Suu Kyi condemned Friday's early morning raids - in which Rohingya insurgents wielding guns, sticks and home-made bombs assaulted 30 police stations and an army base - while the government evacuated staff and villagers to safety. In a sign that both sides were bracing for more violence, about 1,000 Rohingya arrived at the Naf river separating Myanmar and Bangladesh and got stranded there, a Bangladeshi border guard and Mohammad Ali Hossain, deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar district near the Myanmar border, told Reuters. "Many Rohingya people are trying to enter the country, but we have a zero-tolerance policy - no one will be allowed," said Mr Hossain. The U.N.'s International Organization for Migration said recently that around 87,000 Rohingya had crossed the border and entered Bangladesh since last October, when a new string of violence broke out in Myanmar's Rakhine state. But a previously unknown militant group emerged as a force last October under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which claims to be leading an insurgency based in the remote May Yu mountain range bordering Bangladesh.
Dozens of Rohingya Muslims fleeing renewed violence in Rakhine State are detained by Bangladeshi and Burmese authorities after they attempt to cross the border from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Many were en route to Kutupalong Refugee Camp, a refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh, mostly inhabited by Rohingya refugees.