At least six dead after armed gang attack in Rohingya refugee camp


FILE PHOTO: A banyan tree is seen at Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, November 16, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

DHAKA (Reuters) - At least six people were killed in an attack at a Rohingya camp in Bangladesh's Cox Bazar on Friday, a police official said - the latest incident of violence in the world's largest refugee settlement.

A gang armed with guns attacked a religious school before dawn in Cox Bazar's Ukhiya area and killed three teachers, two volunteers and a student, police superintendent Shihab Kaiser Khan said.

"A drive is underway to arrest those responsible for the incident," Khan told Reuters, adding one Rohingya man with weapons and ammunition had been taken into custody.

More than a million Rohingya live in a cluster of refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, with most having fled neighbouring Myanmar during a military crackdown in 2007.

The sprawling settlements have become increasingly violent, residents say, with armed gangs vying for power, kidnapping critics and warning women against breaking conservative Islamic norms.

Late last month, gunmen shot and killed a prominent Rohingya Muslim leader in the camps.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Edwina Gibbs)

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