Bangladesh's Prime Minister on Wednesday asked Myanmar to take back tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees who have fled a military crackdown in the Buddhist majority nation's Rakhine state, an official said. According to the UN, at least 65,000 people belonging to the Muslim minority have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar - a third of them over the past week - since a military operation was launched in October following attacks on police posts.
The figure marks a sharp escalation in the numbers of Rohingya fleeing a military campaign which rights groups say has been marred by abuses so severe they could amount to crimes against humanity.