Rohingya children beheaded, civilians burned alive by Myanmarese security forces: Report

Rohingya children have been beheaded and civlians burned alive by Myanmarese security forces, the British online newspaper the Independent newspaper has reported.

There have been allegations that Myanmar's army and paramilitary forces are conducting a "pogrom" or "genocide" against the Muslim minority in the country’s western Rakhine state.

The Rohingya are reviled in Myanmar, and seen as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

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The UN has said some 60,000 Rohingya have fled Burma in a week, trying to get across the Naf river which separates Myanmar from Bangladesh.

Earlier news reports have talked of bodies -- of the Rohingya who were not able to make it across -- washing up on Bangladesh soil.

The Independent was quoting witness testimony of survivors.

The Independent said observers believe the number of displaced will increase.

It added the Myanmarese army as saying 400 militants had been killed in clashes with security forces.

The Independent said the civilians who did make it across gave horrific accounts of violence and destruction by Myanmarese soldiers and other armed groups.

It recounted the testimony given to Fortify Rights, a charity working in the area, of a man named Abdul Rahim.

Rahim said he had survived a five-hour attack on a village called Chut Pyin.

He told Fortify Rights that a group of Rohingya men had been rounded up and held in a bamboo hut, which was then set on fire.

"My brother was killed, (Burmese soldiers) burned him with the group,” the Independent quoted him as saying.

“We found (my other family members) in the fields. They had marks on their bodies from bullets and some had cuts.

"My two nephews, their heads were off. One was six years old and the other was nine years old. My sister-in-law was shot with a gun.”

The Independent said Sultan Ahmed, 27, from the same village, told Fortify Rights: “Some people were beheaded, and many were cut. We were in the house hiding when [armed residents from a neighbouring village] were beheading people.

"When we saw that, we just ran out the back of the house.”

The Independent said survivors from other villages in the region also described seeing people being beheaded or having their throats cut.

“We can’t stress enough the urgency of the situation,” the Independent quoted Matthew Smith, the head of Fortify Rights, as saying.

“The Myanmar authorities are failing to protect civilians and save lives. International pressure is critically needed.”