Violence erupts in Myanmar

(Vatican Radio) In Myanmar, more than 100 people are reported dead in sectarian fighting. Whole towns are reported torched, and troops are said to have opened fire. The United Nations Secretary General has called for calm, warning that social order could break down.

Raiders torched houses and muslim prayer halls, leaving two thousand buildings destroyed, said one local official.

One report said troops opened fire on a boat carrying individuals whom they suspected of being about to raid a riverside town.

The violence is said to be between mainly Buddhist Burmese and a muslim minority group, the Rohingyas, long-term residents whom Myanmar's government considers to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and India.

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, called the violence deeply troubling.

He urged authorities to end the vigilante attacks and other lawlessness, or, he said, social order might break down and threaten Myanmar's ongoing reforms.

The United States demanded “. . . immediate action to halt the ongoing violence, to grant full humanitarian access to the affected areas” (U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.)

In June, similar violence left 90 people dead and about 75-thousand living in refugee camps.

Listen to Alastair Wanklyn’s report: