Fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) has escalated in the western state of Rakhine in recent days, putting thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya who live in the area at increased risk.
Based on interviews with Rohingya activists who have spoken to witnesses in Buthidaung, there have been huge fires across the town in the last few days. They accuse the AA of being behind the arson campaign, but the AA has rejected the allegations saying the fires were started by the Myanmar military in air attacks.
What is clear is that thousands of Rohingya are fleeing for their lives and are increasingly unsafe, caught between the military, which seized power in a coup more than three years ago, and in 2017 launched a brutal crackdown on the Rohingya that is now the subject of a genocide investigation, and the AA.
Regardless of who is responsible for the attacks, human rights groups are sounding the alarm: warning of the danger of another serious wave of ethnic and communal violence that could be even worse than in 2017. That year, more than 750,000 Rohingya fled into neighbouring Bangladesh after the military launched a series of attacks on their villages after the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, an armed group, attacked several police posts.
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