What Rohingya carry as they flee Myanmar violence

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An elderly Rohingya woman sits in a basket that carried her across the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, after having just arrived at Teknaf border area, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Cellphones to reach out to separated relatives. Bags of spices that remind them of home. Solar panels to bring a little light to their ragged tents.

These are some of the things that group upon group of terrified, starving, exhausted ethnic Rohingya Muslims carry with them as they escape the violence that they’ve endured in Myanmar’s Rakhine state over the last two weeks.

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The exodus began Aug. 25, after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts in Rakhine. The Myanmar government says nearly 400 people have been killed in fighting it blames on insurgents, though Rohingya say Myanmar troops and Buddhist mobs attacked them and destroyed their villages.

They packed a few precious items into used sacks and bamboo baskets, then fled on foot through forests, or on precarious boats on rain-swollen rivers.

Story and photos by the Associated Press, text over photos by CGTN America.