Rangoon: A Muslim dominated area in the Burmese city of Sittwe was completely destroyed in recent communal violence, a UK broadcaster has revealed.
A team from the UK's Channel 4 News revealed that Sittwe, once home to 10,000, had been reduced to rubble.
Most Rohingya Muslims were moved out of Sittwe into temporary camps.
Violence in the state of Rakhine began in late May when a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered by three Muslims. A mob later killed ten Muslims.
Sectarian clashes spread across the state, with houses of both Buddhists and Muslims being burnt down, the BBC reports.
According to the report, local Rakhine Buddhists were picking through the debris of the houses, which had once been the Rohingya area of the city.
One man told reporters that the Muslims had set fire to their own homes in an attempt to burn down the whole community.
Meanwhile, the UNHCR has said that nearly 80,000 people have been displaced in and around the Sittwe and Maungdaw by the communal violence.
ANI
First Published: Wednesday, August 15, 2012, 15:57