Media and medical sources substantiate claims of rape being used as instrument of terror in expulsion of Muslim Rohingyas from Buddhist Myanmar.
ADVERTISEMENTThere have been many accusations of murderous and brutal treatment of Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya community by the army, including the burning down of villages, ethnic cleansing and summary execution.
Now several media and medical organisatons are suggesting rape may have been systematically committed by soldiers of the Myanmar army.
"I can't bear this pain anymore. I am unable to take my pain to the doctor. I am disturbed in my mind. I cried all night last night. No one knows that except for Allah. I can't even bend to pray. That is what is troubling me," said one victim.
Dozens of victims in refugee camps in Bangladesh are coming forward with their stories.
"I was very worried. I was crying a lot. And my husband said he will abandon me. 'A non-Muslim raped you,' he said and threatened to leave me," said another young woman. Most of the reported victims, well into their hundreds already according to Medicins Sans Frontieres, are under 35, but at least one was as young as nine.
Last month an internal Myanmar army investigation concluded no assaults took place, but the accusations are remarkably similar, come from several refugee camps, and suggest rape is being used as a "calculated tool of terror".