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October 23, 2012 -- Updated 0902 GMT (1702 HKT)
(CNN) -- Fresh sectarian clashes in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine killed three people and left more than 400 houses, a monastery and a mosque burned to the ground, authorities said Tuesday.
Myanmar refugees from the Rohingya community, a predominantly Muslim sect, take refuge on a street, in this photo taken in May.
Rakhine is home to the
Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority who say they have been persecuted by
the Myanmar military during its decades of authoritarian rule.
The unrest between the
majority Buddhists and the Rohingya minority began five months ago and
has tested the efforts of President Thein Sein's administration to seek
reconciliation with Myanmar's different ethnic groups and move the
country toward more democratic governance.
Authorities have declared
at state of emergency in two of the townships, with the state's prime
minister instructing that medical teams be accompanied by security
personnel when they visit them.
The situation in the
region has been tense since May when police detained three Muslim men in
relation to the rape and killing of a Buddhist woman. Two of the men
were sentenced to death; the third hanged himself while in detention.
News of the crime appears
to have motivated several hundred people to attack a bus in Rakhine in
early June, killing 10 Muslims who were on board.
The violence then spread
across the northern part of the state, resulting in the destruction of
thousands of homes and the deaths of dozens, according to the
government.
The national government declared a state of emergency in Rakhine, bringing in the military to help restore order.
Hundreds of Rohingyas tried to cross the border into neighboring Bangladesh, but were turned back.
Bangladesh said it already has too many Rohingya refugees, estimating that about 300,000 live in the country.
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