Over 6,700 Rohingyas killed after violence broke out in Myanmar in August

Nya Pyi Taw, December 15: At least 6,700 Rohingyas were killed in the month after violence broke out in Myanmar in August. The Myanmar military blames the violence on terrorists and has denied any wrongdoing.

The figure is the highest estimated death toll yet of violence that erupted on August 25 and triggered a massive refugee crisis, with more than 620,000 Rohingya fleeing Myanmar for Bangladesh in three months.

"At least 6,700 Rohingya, in the most conservative estimations, are estimated to have been killed, including at least 730 children below the age of five," MSF said Thursday.

The group's findings come from six surveys of more than 2,434 households in Rohingya refugee camps and cover a period of one month.

"We met and spoke with survivors of violence in Myanmar, who are now sheltering in overcrowded and unsanitary camps in Bangladesh," said the group's medical director Sidney Wong.

"What we uncovered was staggering, both in terms of the numbers of people who reported a family member died as a result of violence, and the horrific ways in which they said they were killed or severely injured."

Gunshot wounds were the cause of death in 69 percent of the cases, according to the survey. Another nine percent were reported burned alive inside houses, while five percent died from fatal beatings.

More than 647,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh since August. Western countries have condemned the violence as ethnic cleansing, an allegation Myanmar strongly denies. Officials in the country have laid the blame on extremist terrorists belonging to a new Rohingya militant group.