The media has "exaggerated" the number of Rohingya refugees fleeing an army crackdown, Myanmar's commander-in-chief said Thursday, in a brash rebuttal of accusations of ethnic cleansing by his forces.Some 520,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar's western Rakhine state since August 25, when the military launched a sweeping campaign against militants from the Muslim minority.

A boat packed with Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state capsised late Sunday night near the coast of Bangladesh, leaving at least two people dead and scores missing, officials said.Coast guard and border guard officials said the boat was overloaded with about 100 people when it sank in the mouth of the Naf river that separates Myanmar from its South Asian neighbour Bangladesh."It capsised near (the coastal village of) Galachar with nearly 100 people.

The Muslim minority Rohingya people continue to flee their homes in the northern Rakhine State of Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh for fear of continued persecution by their Buddhist majority government and military.According to the latest numbers released by AFP, 422,000 stateless refugees have fled the conflict zone since the recent spate of violence started on the August 25 to overcrowded camps along the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

A military campaign to wipe out Rohingya insurgents has rained violence down on Myanmar's Rakhine state, sending nearly 390,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees fleeing for sanctuary in Bangladesh.Around 30,000 Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus have also been displaced, as ethnic and religious hatreds carve through the western state.Access to the epicentre of unrest – the northern wedge of Rakhine – has been blocked by the government as the crisis unfolds.But the weary and wounded Rohingya arriving i