5 Rohingya die in landslide in Bangladesh refugee camp

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — At least five Rohingya refugees died in a landslide triggered by heavy rains in a camp in southern Bangladesh, where more than 1 million refugees from neighboring Myanmar have been sheltered, an official said Tuesday.

Shamsud Douza, additional commissioner for refugees, relief and repatriation, said a child was also swept away by flooding in a canal at Ukhiya.

Bangladesh’s weather office forecast more rain in coming weeks.

About 700,000 Rohingya fled to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh after August 2017, when the military in Buddhist-majority Myanmar began a harsh crackdown on the Muslim group following an attack by insurgents. The crackdown included rapes, killings and the torching of thousands of homes, and was termed ethnic cleansing by global rights groups and the United Nations.

More than 300,000 other Rohingya refugees have been living in Bangladesh camps for decades.