Yangon : Two people have been killed during clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar’s second-largest city of Mandalay, police said.
“There are two dead,” a police officer, who did not want to be named, told AFP news agency by telephone on Thursday, without providing further details. The reported deaths came a day after reports of five people being injured during sectarian clashes. “One policeman, three Buddhists and one Muslim were injured by stones in the incident,” Mandalay police said in a statement late on Tuesday. “Two of the three injured Buddhist men are receiving treatment in Mandalay hospital and the rest got treatment as outpatients.” the statement said.
A witness who lives in the mostly Muslim neighborhood said a Buddhist mob had gathered late on Tuesday after rumours spread that the Muslim owner of a tea shop had raped a Buddhist woman. No evidence of such an attack was immediately available. Police stood between the groups and tried to drive the Buddhists away, the witness said. “The police and the crowd fought each other and the crowd threw stones at the police,” he said.
He said the Buddhist mob ransacked shops and burned vehicles before police managed to restore order, but that at 6 am local time Buddhists were still driving through the neighborhood shouting at residents. Police fired rubber bullets to disperse the angry crowds that were facing off in the streets. A local journalist told Al Jazeera that several Muslim shops were destroyed and that some people had been wounded in knife attacks. The main market in town remained closed on Wednesday. Myanmar has been wracked by violence between the two communities since June 2012. More than 200 people have been killed and at least 140,000 displaced. Most of the victims have been Muslim.