Mosque, orphanage burned in Myanmar violence

YANGON: A police officer and a monk in the remote Myanmar city of Lashio have confirmed that a mob burned down a mosque, a Muslim orphanage and shops in the northeastern town after rumors spread that a Muslim man had set fire to a Buddhist woman.

According to the policeman and the Buddhist monk contacted by telephone Wednesday morning there were no fatalities after violence erupted the night before in the northeastern city.

Deadly sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims has broken out since last year in other parts of the country, first in a western region then in central towns.

The new flare-up will reinforce doubts that President Thein Sein's government can or will act to contain the violence.