YANGON: Myanmar’s army on Tuesday cleared itself of allegations that troops may have carried out ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, but said a soldier had been jailed for taking a motorbike. UN investigators who interviewed hundreds of escapees documented reports of mass killings, widespread rapes and horrifying accounts of babies being thrown into burning houses. In a report released in February they said security forces may have committed atrocities so severe they amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. But on Tuesday the military said the results of its own investigation, led by army chief Aye Win, showed those charges were “false and fabricated”. The army said its investigators had interviewed 2,875 people from 29 villages, but did not say whether they were ethnic Rakhines or the Rohingya Muslims who make up the majority in northern Rakhine.

Source: Manila Times May 23, 2017 06:22 UTC