YANGON: Myanmar's national security adviser says the military has ended its four-month counterinsurgency operation in troubled Rakhine state, where it had been accused of rape, torture and other abuses against Muslim Rohingya minority residents.
A statement issued Thursday by the office of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi quoted newly appointed national security adviser Thaung Tan saying the situation in northern Rakhine had stabilized, so that only a police presence was needed to keep the peace.
The army's operation began in early October after nine police officers at three outposts on the border with Bangladesh were killed by insurgents.
Human rights groups charged that the army crackdown included burning down more than 1,000 homes and killing an unknown number of civilians, possibly several hundred.