Turkish aid group gives food, digs wells for Rohingya

GAZIANTEP, Turkey

A Turkish aid group has sent four tons of food and dug 50 wells for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, according to the group.

“We decided to help our Muslim brothers and sisters in Myanmar. We worked for three weeks to collect help. Then we delivered four tons of food packages directly to the people in need,” Ali Kirmizi, head of the Goodness and Mission Foundation, based in the southeastern Turkish province of Gaziantep, told Anadolu Agency.

“We also dug 50 wells for the Rohingya Muslims as part of emergency aid to deal with the ongoing drought in the region,” he added.

Some 650,000 refugees have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state since Aug. 25 in the wake of a brutal military crackdown.

During the crackdown, security forces and Buddhist mobs have killed men, women, and children, looted homes, and torched Rohingya villages, according to refugee accounts.

Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

Reporting by Ozkan Beyer:Writing by Seyit Ahmet Aytac