Naypyidaw: Human Rights Watch has accused the Burmese military of killing, rape and mass arrests targeting Rohingya Muslims during recent sectarian violence in Western Burma.

The bloodshed in Rakhin state between Muslim Rohingya and largely Buddhist communities erupted in May after a Arakan Buddhist woman was sexually assaulted and murdered.

The report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch says hundreds of Muslim Rohingya men and boys have been detained in mass arrests since June. It says their whereabouts are, as yet, unknown.

It also says that the Burmese government initially failed to take measures to stop the flare up of violence between ethnic Rakhine Burmese and Rohingya Muslims which began in June.

The violence, which has left many dead and led to the displacement of more than 100,000 people, has also focused new attention on the plight of about one million members of the Rohingya minority, who live in Burma but are not accepted as citizens there, or in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Human Rights Watch says government security forces stood by and failed to intervene in the June 3 attack. Later, as violence escalated and thousands of Rohingya rioted, it says police and paramilitary trooped fired on Rohingya communities.

Rights workers interviewed both Arakan and Ronhingya communities.

A Rohingya man recounts how his house was raided by the military. He explains how the military searched all the homes. He says when no adults were found, soldiers tied up and beat the children until they fainted.

Both ethnic communities attacked villages and neighborhoods, destroying and burning homes, shops and houses of worship.

In the capital of Sittwe most Muslims have fled or have been forcibly relocated. Shops held by Muslims have been commandeered by the state.

Burma largely denies citizenship to the estimated 800,000 to one million Rohingya, adding to communal tensions.

The report’s release coincides with U.N. human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana’s official visit to Burma. Quintana traveled to Rakhin state to evaluate the damage to the region. He is expected to report his findings in the coming days.

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