Dhaka wants the UN Security Council to take “strong stance and swift action” to end the "ethnic cleansing" in Myanmar and to restore peace and stability in the strife-torn Rakhine State to facilitate a smooth return of Rohingyas.

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors yesterday to discuss the violence in Myanmar, moving to step up its response to the exodus of 4,80,000 Rohingyas in what has been condemned as "ethnic cleansing." The meeting will set the stage for a public session of the top UN body tomorrow, during which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is set to brief on the crisis and China, along with other council members, will deliver remarks.

Nur Begum, 55, came to Bangladesh from Myanmar's Maungdaw with her young son and daughter in tow. She witnessed her husband

The UN human rights chief slams Myanmar's apparent "systematic attack" on the Rohingya minority, warning that "ethnic cleansing" seemed to be underway.

The Red Cross organisations scale up operations in Myanmar's violence-riven northwest, after the United Nations had to suspend activities there following government suggestions that its agency had supported Rohingya insurgents.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army or Arsa, an armed group that emerged in Rakhine state in 2013, has no sizable weaponry to sustain the struggle. But that is how things remain in the beginning – small but potent.

Dhaka yesterday summoned the Myanmar envoy to Bangladesh for the fourth time in less than two weeks and handed over a strongly