MILITARY FINDS MASS GRAVE IN RAKHINE MYANMAR BANS UN OFFICIAL

Rights groups say more then ten thousands of Rohingya have been killed since August, while more than half a million have fled to Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s army said on Monday that security forces have discovered a mass grave on the edge of a village in Rakhine State, and have launched an investigation.

A violent crackdown by the security forces in response to attacks by militants in the state has caused around 650,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee toBangladesh in recent months.

    In a statement posted on the Facebook page of the military’s commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the army said the unidentified bodies had been found at the cemetery in the village of Inn Din, about 50 km (30 miles) north of state capital Sittwe. It did not say how many bodies were uncovered.

Authorities in Rakhine state work to uncover a mass grave found in a village north of the provincial capital Sittwe.

Myanmar has banned a United Nations official investigating the ongoingcrackdown in Rakhine State from the country, after claiming a previous report by her was biased and unfair, the UN said Wednesday.

Yanghee Lee, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, was informed Wednesday all access to the country has been denied and cooperation withdrawn for the duration of her tenure, the UN said in a statement.

Yanghee Lee, UN Special Rapporteur

    “A preliminary investigation was done by the security forces following a report, by someone who asked not to be named, of people being killed and buried,” the army said.

    ”As a result of the investigations, unidentified bodies were found at the Inn Din village cemetery and a detailed investigation is being conducted to get to the truth,” according to the statement on Facebook, which the army often uses to make announcements.

It gave no further details and military officials were not available for comment.

General Aye Win is the same officer who led a wider probe into the conduct of troops in a conflict that began in late August, which concluded in a report last month that no atrocities took place.

Myanmar Vice-Senior General Maung Aye

Myanmar's armed forces launched what they termed clearance operations in northern Rakhine, where many of the stateless Muslim minority lived, after Rohingya militants attacked 30 police posts and an army base on Aug. 25.

MASS GRAVE