Myanmar police to arm, train non-Muslims in conflict-torn region

A police truck passes by a Rohingya village outside Maungdaw October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - Myanmar police will begin arming and training non-Muslim residents in the troubled north of Rakhine State, where officials say militants from the Rohingya Muslim group pose a growing security threat, police and civilian officials said.

Human rights monitors and a leader of the mostly stateless Rohingya told Reuters the move risked sharpening intercommunal tensions in a region that has just seen its bloodiest month since 2012, when hundreds of people were killed in clashes between Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.