YANGON, Dec 19 (Reuters): Myanmar's army said on Monday that security forces have discovered a mass grave on the edge of a village in Rakhine State, and have launched an investigation.
A violent crackdown by the security forces in response to attacks by militants in the state has caused around 650,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh in recent months.
In a statement posted on the Facebook page of the military's commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the army said the unidentified bodies had been found at the cemetery in the village of Inn Din, about 50 km (30 miles) north of state capital Sittwe.
It did not say how many bodies were uncovered.
"A preliminary investigation was done by the security forces following a report, by someone who asked not to be named, of people being killed and buried," the army said.
"As a result of the investigations, unidentified bodies were found at the Inn Din village cemetery and a detailed investigation is being conducted to get to the truth," according to the statement on Facebook, which the army often uses to make announcements.
Meanwhile, as two Reuters journalists neared the end of a week in detention in Myanmar on Tuesday, there was no word on where they were being held as authorities proceeded with an investigation into whether they violated the country's colonial-era Official Secrets Act.
Journalists Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were arrested last Tuesday evening after they were invited to dine with police officers on the outskirts of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.
"We and their families continue to be denied access to them or to the most basic information about their well-being and whereabouts," Reuters President and Editor-In-Chief Stephen J. Adler said in a statement calling for their immediate release.
"Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are journalists who perform a crucial role in shedding light on news of global interest, and they are innocent of any wrongdoing."
Myanmar's civilian president, Htin Kyaw, a close ally of government leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has authorized the police to proceed with a case against the reporters, a senior government spokesman said on Sunday.
Approval from the president's office is needed before court proceedings can begin in cases brought under the Official Secrets Act, which has a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
The two journalists had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis that has seen an estimated 655,000 Rohingya Muslims flee from a fierce military crackdown on militants in the western state of Rakhine.
A number of governments, including the United States, Canada and Britain, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as well as a host of journalists' and human rights' groups, have criticized the arrests as an attack on press freedom and called on Myanmar to release the two men.
The European Union's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini added her voice on Monday, with her spokeswoman describing the arrests as "a cause of real concern".
"Freedom of the press and media is the foundation and a cornerstone of any democracy," the spokeswoman said.
