Children among hundreds of Rohingyas detained in Myanmar crackdown

SITTWE, Myanmar/COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Children as young as 10 years old are among hundreds of Rohingya Muslims detained on charges of consorting with insurgents, according to a police document seen by Reuters that sheds new light on Myanmar's security campaign in the country's northwest.

Thirteen juveniles are among more than 400 people arrested since Oct. 9, when insurgents attacked three police border posts in northern Rakhine State near the frontier with Bangladesh, the March 7 dated document shows.

Police said some of the children had confessed to working with insurgents and that they were being detained away from adult suspects.

A government spokesman confirmed children were detained in the operation, but said authorities had followed the law. He said he knew of only five juveniles currently being held.

Myanmar's leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who took power almost a year ago, is under international pressure over alleged abuses including killings, gang rapes and mass detentions against the stateless Rohingya, about 1.1 million of whom are prevented from travelling freely and accessing basic services in Myanmar.

The government has released few details about the hundreds detained in the Rakhine operation or the charges they face.

The document seen by Reuters lists 423 people held under the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act. All appear from their names to be male. Their average age is 34, but the youngest is 10 and the oldest 75. One has been crossed out and marked "dead".

Two police captains in Maungdaw, the district at the centre of the violence, confirmed the veracity of the 11-page document.

"We police have to arrest those related with the attackers, children or not, but the court will decide if they are guilty, we cannot decide," said Police Captain Than Shwe.