New York 5 Feb (ANA) - Myanmar security forces are "very likely" to have committed crimes against humanity against Rohingya Muslims in recent months, U.N. human rights investigators said. They cited an unprecedented upsurge in violence such as gang rape and brutal killings of children as young as 8 months old, at times before the eyes of their own mothers. At a press conference in Geneva, a UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson said the Rohinghya minority had been victims of "Mass gang-rapes, killings – including of babies and young children, brutal beatings, disappearances and other serious human rights violations." The report is based on harrowing accounts from over 200 people among an estimated 66,000 Rohingya who have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since October, when Myanmar's military began a crackdown following attacks on border posts. The UN said the vast majority witnessed killings and half of the women interviewed said they had been victims of sexual violence.(ANA)

FA/ANA/5 February 2017----