UN rights chief: Rohingya have 'nowhere to flee' in western Myanmar fighting

FILE PHOTO: Myanmar border guard police force patrol near the Myanmar-Bangladeshi border outside Maungdaw, northern Rakhine state, Myanmar, November 12, 2017. REUTERS/Wa Lone/File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Muslim-minority Rohingya, who were feared to be trapped amid fighting in western Myanmar, had nowhere to flee, the United Nations human rights chief said on Tuesday.

The Arakan Army, which is fighting for autonomy for Myanmar's Rakhine region, said late on Sunday that residents of the town of Maungdaw, inhabited primarily by the Rohingya, should leave by 9 p.m. (1430 GMT) ahead of a planned offensive.