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A massive fire tore through a crowded Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh
Rohingya refugees try to salvage their belongings after a major fire in their Balukhali camp at Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh, on March 5, 2023.
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Mahmud Hossain Opu
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AP
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COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh — A massive fire raced through a crammed refugee camp for Rohingya Muslims in southern Bangladesh on Sunday, leaving thousands homeless, a fire official and the United Nations said.
No casualties were reported immediately at Balukhali camp in Cox's Bazar district, said Emdadul Haque, a fire service official.
Rohingya refugee boys salvage a gas cylinder after a major fire in the Balukhali camp in Bangladesh.
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Mahmud Hossain Opu
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AP
)
The UNHCR in Bangladesh said in a tweet that Rohingya refugee volunteers were responding to the fire with the agency and its partners providing support. It provided no further details.
More than 1 million Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar over several decades, including about 740,000 who crossed the border starting in August 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown.
Rohingya refugees try to salvage their belongings after a major fire in the heavily cramped Balukhali camp.
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Mahmud Hossain Opu
/
AP
)
Conditions in Myanmar have worsened since a military takeover in 2021, and attempts to send back the refugees have failed.
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Last year, the United States said the oppression of Rohingya in Myanmar amounts to genocide after U.S. authorities confirmed accounts of mass atrocities against civilians by the military in a systematic campaign against the ethnic minority. Muslim Rohingya face widespread discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where most are denied citizenship and many other rights.
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