Associated Press
YANGON, Myanmar –  Anti-Muslim mobs rampaged through three more towns in Myanmar's predominantly Buddhist heartland over the weekend, destroying mosques and burning dozens of homes despite government efforts to stop the nation's latest outbreak of sectarian violence from spreading.

President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in central Myanmar on Friday and deployed army troops to the worst hit city, Meikhtila, where 32 people were killed and 10,000 mostly Muslim residents were displaced. But even as soldiers imposed order there after several days of anarchy that saw armed Buddhists torch the city's Muslim quarters, anti-Muslim unrest has spread south toward the capital, Naypyitaw.

AP
MEIKHTILA, Myanmar // Sectarian clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar has spread to at least two other towns in the country's heartland, undermining government efforts to quash an eruption of violence that has killed dozens of people and displaced 10,000 more.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/americas/sectarian-violence-spreads-in-myanmar#ixzz2OgOyRVFn
Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook
The president Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in the region on Friday and deployed army troops to the worst hit city, Meikhtila. But even as soldiers were able to impose order there after several days of anarchy that saw armed Buddhists torch the city's Muslim quarters, unrest was reported in two other towns to the south.

By Phyo Wai Lin, Jethro Mullen and Kocha Olarn, CNN
Yangon, Myanmar (CNN) -- Residents of the city in central Myanmar where clashes between Buddhists and the Muslim minority killed dozens of people last week struggled to resume their daily lives on Monday with a state of emergency still in place.

Even as an uneasy calm prevailed in Meiktila, the city at the heart of the unrest, police reported fresh arson attacks on Muslim properties in other areas, showing the challenges Myanmar authorities face in reining in communal tensions in this nascent democracy.

A group of Buddhists on Saturday night torched 65 houses and religious buildings in Yemethin Township, which is about 40 kilometers south of Meiktila and not under a state of emergency, according to Lt. Col. Aung Min, a spokesman for the Myanmar Police Force.

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION

ARAKAN, BURMA

 PRESS RELEASE

 (23 March 2013)

 STOP SYSTEMATIC KILLING OF MUSLIM IN BURMA

Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) strongly condemns the increasing anti-Muslim propaganda and organized killings of the Muslims in Burma/Myanmar.

Since Wednesday March 20, many Muslims were killed, at least 14 mosques with hundreds of Muslim homes were destroyed, shops damaged and looted, and more than 20,000 displaced in the central Burma town of Meiktila and around the airport area of capital Naypyidaw. The violence spread to Yameithein tonight where a mosque was destroyed. A lot of Muslim residents have fled their homes. Extremist Buddhist mobs with Buddhist monks armed with sticks and lethal weapons are prowling the streets and hunting the Muslims. 4 Islamic religiousteachers and 28 madrassa students, who included children as young as 12 years old, were among those killed.