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| Myanmar imposes curfew on town, admits casualties after religious unrest
YANGON, Oct 30 (AFP) - Myanmar said Thursday it imposed a curfew on a central township following violence between Muslims and Buddhists which resulted in undisclosed casualties in the township and neighbouring Mandalay. "Recently there have been some disturbances in Mandalay and a few other places between people professing different faith," Myanmar's military government said in a statement faxed to AFP. BizVantage – Beyond the news - a realtime Net clipping service: for business, investment or technology. "A curfew has been imposed in Kyaukse Township for precautionary measures after a disturbance took place." Radio Free Asia (RFA), citing an eyewitness report, said Wednesday that dozens of people, mainly Muslims, died in fires during riots in Kyaukse on October 19, including a pregnant woman and a child. The Washington-based RFA said the eyewitness saw many corpses of people who had died in the fires. "Soon we saw one corpse after another. They were taking them away to the hospital," the unnamed witness, a resident of Kyaukse's Kan Oo ward, told RFA. He also reportedly described bringing the burned bodies of 11 people in bags to a Muslim cemetery for burial on the afternoon of the 20th. Yangon would not disclose whether anyone had been killed in the violence, preferring to use vague language to describe what happened. "Unfortunately there are some casualties and property damage as a result of the disturbances," the junta added, stressing that details could not be publicised as an investigation was ongoing. It said the areas affected by the riots "are now back to normal" following the intervention of local authorities and religious leaders, and "legal action has been taken against those individuals which disrupted law and order as well as peace and tranquility in those places." Riotous crowds were seen marching through the streets of Kyaukse on the night of October 19, RFA said, and cited residents' claims that the local Su Gyi mosque had been torched. Rights groups have expressed concern that Myanmar's military has provoked violent clashes between ethnic and religious groups, in part to draw attention away from political difficulties. More than 250,000 Rohingya Muslims fled forced labour and violence by Myanmar's military government during 1991 and 1992, mainly to Bangladesh, but later went home, the aid group Doctors Without Borders has said. About 19,000 Muslim refugees remain in Bangladesh. mlm/rmj Myanmar-unrest
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