Myanmar blackout may be cover for gross human rights violations - U.N. investigator

GENEVA (Reuters) - A blackout of mobile phone data in nine townships in Myanmar's Rakhine and Chin states may be covering up human rights abuses, U.N. special rapporteur Yanghee Lee said on Monday.

"I fear for all civilians there," she said in the statement.

"I am told that the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military forces) is now conducting a ‘clearance operation’, which we all know by now can be a cover for committing gross human rights violations against the civilian population."

(Reporting by Tom Miles, Editing by William Maclean)