Bangladesh completes registration of 8,44,227 Rohingya refugees

Dhaka [Bangladesh], Dec 15 (ANI): Bangladesh has completed biometric registration of 8,44,227 Rohingya refugees who have crossed the border to escape persecution in neighbouring Myanmar's Rakhine state.

The Daily Star quoted an official release as saying that a total of 8, 44,227 Rohingyas have undergone biometric registration till December 14.

Bangladesh's Department of Immigration and Passport (DIP) carrying out the registration work in 12 makeshift camps in Ukhia and Teknaf.

The registration process started on September 11.

Out of the registered refugees, 36,373 have been identified as orphans, which include 17,395 boys and 18,978 girls.

Earlier on Thursday, the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) released a survey, which said, at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed between August and September after violence broke out in Myanmar's northern restive Rakhine state.

The figures released by MSF, based on surveys of refugees in Bangladesh, is much higher than Myanmar's official figure of 400.

"We met and spoke with survivors of violence in Myanmar, who are now sheltering in overcrowded and unsanitary camps in Bangladesh," reported CNN, citing Sidney Wong, MSF Medical Director, as saying in a statement.

"What we uncovered was staggering, both in terms of the numbers of people who reported a family member died as a result of violence and the horrific ways in which they said they were killed or severely injured," she said.

The MSF said that it was "the clearest indication yet of the widespread violence" by Myanmar authorities.

The MSF's research, based on the "most conservative estimations", revealed that at least 730 Rohingya children below the age of five were violently killed in the month following August 25. (ANI)