Myanmar denies Buddhist mob kills Muslim villagers

Myanmar's government today denied that security forces and a Buddhist mob attacked Muslims in an isolated, strife-torn corner of the country this week.
A rights group said more than a dozen people may have been killed and that hundreds of people have fled their homes. The US and Britain called on the government to investigate and to hold those responsible accountable.
"We have had no information about killings," Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Myanmar's ancient city of Bagan.
His comments were echoed by other government officials. Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million people, has been grappling with sectarian violence for nearly two years.

More than 240 people have been killed and another 250,000 forced to flee their homes, most of them Muslims from the western state of Rakhine.
The northern tip of the state, where Tuesday's violence occurred, is home to 80 per cent of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, considered by the United Nations to be one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.
Foreign journalists cannot travel to the area and the work of humanitarian aid organisations is restricted.