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Myanmar's local authorities has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Kyauktaw in western Rakhine state since Wednesday night following days of renewed sectarian riot in the area, according to report reaching here Thursday morning. The curfew, effective from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time, was imposed by Kyauktaw township administration, bringing the total number of areas placed under curfew in Rakhine state to seven. Seven people have been killed since the riot with mutual arson attacks erupted on Sunday in Kyauktaw, 128 kilometers from Sittway, capital of Rakhine state, following clashes between local ethnic Rakhinese and Bengali-Muslims, with 332 houses in four villages and one rice mill being destroyed. The renewed riot came a day after United Nations human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana ended his six-day mission last Saturday, asking for independent investigation into the riot, which was turned down by the government. Over the past week, Myanmar Vice President Sai Mauk Kham toured the riot-hit Rakhine state and inspected the progress of rehabilitation work in the state, saying that the issue of Rakhine needs long-term solution and stressing the maintenance of regional peace and stability. Rakhine state has been put under a state of emergency since June 10 with curfew in six unrest townships Maugtaw, Buthidaung, Sittway, Kyaukpyu, Yanbye and Thandwe. According to the official figure, 77 people from both communities were killed and 109 people injured in the early stage of the riot. A total of 4,822 houses, 17 mosques, 15 monasteries and three schools were burned down. The deadly violence in Rakhine state started with the rape and killing of a Rakhine ethnic woman by three Bengali men in Kyauknimaw village and murder of 10 Muslims by the mob in Taunggup. It escalated into anarchy on June 8 as murder and arson attacks then spread from Maugtaw to Buthidaung, Sittway, Kyaukpyu, Yanbye and Thandwe, forcing local people to flee the violence.

Myanmar imposes curfew in western state