UNHCR official says 501,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed into Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar 

GENEVA

More than half a million Rohingya Muslims have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar since Aug. 25, the UN said Thursday.

Duniya Aslam Khan, communication officer for the UN refugee agency UNHCR, told Anadolu Agency that 501,000 Rohingya refugees are in camps and temporary residences around Cox's Bazaar city of Bangladesh.

Joel Millman, spokesman for International Organisation for Migration (IOM), had told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that Rohingya who crossed into Bangladesh had reached 480,000.

The refugees are fleeing a military operation in which Myanmar’s armed forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women and children, looted homes and torched Rohingya villages.

According to Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali, around 3,000 Rohingya have been killed in the crackdown.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.