Hundreds likely killed in military crackdown

Geneva : Myanmar's military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims has likely killed hundreds of people, with children slaughtered and women gang-raped in a campaign that may amount to ethnic cleansing, the UN said Friday. 

Soldiers have fired on civilians from helicopters while bands of troops have gone door-to-door in northern Rakhine state, terrorising Rohingya and torching their homes, according to a report from the United Nations human rights office. 

It was "very likely" that crimes against humanity have been committed in Myanmar, said the report, echoing previous UN accusations. 

Rights office researchers interviewed 204 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, where nearly 70,000 people have fled during the four-month crisis.

The Rohingya Muslims are loathed by many among Myanmar's Buddhist majority and have faced persecution for years. 

Violence has surged since the October 9 attacks on border guard posts that Myanmar and independent experts say was carried out by foreign-backed militants. 

Myanmar's military launched "area clearance operations" the next day, which the UN report said "have likely resulted in several hundred deaths".  

Myanmar's government spokesman Zaw Htay called the allegations "extremely serious" and said an existing Rohingya-focused commission led by Vice President U Myint Swe would investigate the UN claims.