About 146,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar violence to Bangladesh

About 146,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from violence in Myanmar since Aug. 25, a U.N. source said on Wednesday.

This bring to 233,000 the total number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October.

An ongoing attack escalated against the Rohingya Muslims on Aug. 25. Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force them out with a campaign of arson and killings.

Civilians are pouring into Bangladesh via land and sea to escape the violence. Tens of thousands are trapped at the border.

Myanmar has been laying landmines across a section of its border with Bangladesh for the past three days, potentially to prevent the return of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence.

The UN estimated on Wednesday that nearly 146,000 Rohingya crossed into Bangladesh as tens of thousands more were internally displaced. The Myanmar administration has not allowed foreign organizations to enter the region, thus the death count is indeterminable.

Rakhine, situated in Myanmar’s west, has long been plagued by violence. In a crackdown last October, the UN documented mass gang rapes, killings – including infants and young children – brutal beatings and disappearances that constituted evidence of human rights violations by security forces that indicated crimes against humanity.