Buddhist vigilantes kill 9 Muslims in Myanmar

Buddhist vigilantes in western Myanmar attacked a passenger bus and killed nine Muslims, police said on Monday. The bus was besieged near Taunggoke town in the western state of Rakhine on Sunday evening by a group who blamed some of its passengers for the murder of a Buddhist woman a week ago, said local residents and politicians. One of those killed was travelling in a separate car. Rakhine is home to Myanmar's largest concentration of Rohingya Muslims. Ko Kyaw Lay, a local Muslim and a human rights activist who belongs to an opposition party, said none of those killed were Rohingyas. Police could not immediately confirm all of the details. "An investigation is underway but I can't give you any further details," said a police official, who requested anonymity. In a separate incident on Sunday in Sittwe, the Rakhine capital, 10 people were shot and wounded when riot police tried to break up a protest, witnesses said. They said the rally by some 200 people was unrelated to the attack on the bus. Protesters threw rocks at police, who responded by firing into the air and a 13-year-old novice monk was among those wounded, the witnesses said. Several residents, who asked for their names to not be disclosed, said the Muslims on the bus were not local and were on a visit to Rakhine state. They suggested those killed may not have been the perpetrators of the alleged gang rape and murder. Residents were also on edge after the Sittwe demonstration. Shopkeeper Thein Kyaw said the protest erupted outside a police station after hired thugs attacked and detained local business operators who refused to pay over-inflated taxes.