Rohingya Refugees: Hundreds flee no man's land after threat

Hundreds of Rohingya living in no man's land have left their makeshift camp and crossed into Bangladesh after soldiers from Myanmar used loudhailers to threaten them, community leaders said yesterday.

Around 6,000 Rohingya have been living on a thin strip of land between the two countries since fleeing Myanmar in the wake of a brutal military crackdown on the Muslim minority in late August.

They were among the first to flee Myanmar when the violence erupted last year and set up shelters in no man's land in the weeks before Bangladesh agreed to let the Rohingya into the country.

In recent weeks they have come under pressure from Myanmar soldiers, who have stepped up patrols along the barbed-wire border fence just yards from the camp and broadcast messages using loudhailers ordering the Rohingya to leave.

Community leader Dil Mohammad said the messages had spread panic through the camp.