Myanmar mob kills more than a dozen Muslims, rights group says

YANGON, Myanmar – A villager and a rights group say a Buddhist mob has killed more than a dozen Muslim women and children in an isolated corner of Myanmar.

A government official said the situation was tense, but denied any deaths.

Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, which has been documenting abuses against members of the Rohinyga Muslim minority for more than a decade, said the violence took place Tuesday in Du Char Yar Tan, a village in northern Rakhine state.

She said the death toll was not yet clear, but her sources indicated it could reach into the dozens.

A resident who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals said 17 women and five children died.

Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing denied any deaths had occurred.