At Least 10 Dead in Myanmar Riots

At least 10 people have been killed in riots in central Myanmar, a local MP said Thursday, prompting U.S. concern at the worst communal unrest since Buddhist-Muslim clashes in western Rakhine state last year.

Huge plumes of black smoke were seen rising above the town of Meiktila as buildings were set ablaze in a second day of fighting in the area, where several mosques were reported to have been torched.

The United States said it was "deeply concerned" by the unrest, which according to police erupted on Wednesday after an argument in a Muslim-owned gold shop intensified and caused about 200 people to fight in the streets.

Win Htein, a member of the opposition National League for Democracy party, said he had seen bodies at the scene of fresh clashes Thursday.

"More than 10 people were killed," he told AFP from the town, which is his constituency seat.

The unrest comes amid heightened tensions between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar.

Communal conflict in Rakhine has left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced since June 2012, overshadowing international optimism about the country's widely praised political reforms since the end of military rule two years ago.

In a brief statement, the U.S. embassy said it was closely monitoring the new violence and extended "deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and property in the violence".

A curfew was put in place overnight but witnesses said fighting erupted again on Thursday morning. A local resident, who asked not to be named, said he had seen "many dead bodies".

"The situation is getting worse. The police cannot control the people," he told AFP.

The local hospital said it had attended to five dead and 25 wounded.

"Two died from burn injuries and the other three were killed because of wounds sustained from knives and sticks," a hospital official said, asking not to be named.

Police said several mosques were destroyed and a Buddhist monk was among two killed on Wednesday, but they did not give an updated toll for Thursday.

Ko Ko Gyi, a member of the 88 Generation political activist group who traveled to Meiktila on Wednesday, said he saw fighting between the local communities and homes torched.

"People from both communities are leaving their houses because they are afraid that they could be attacked," he said by telephone.

Myanmar's Muslims -- largely of Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi descent -- account for an estimated four percent of the roughly 60 million population, although the country has not conducted a census in three decades.

Muslims entered Buddhist-majority Myanmar en masse as indentured laborers from the Indian subcontinent during British colonial rule which ended in 1948.

But despite their long history, they have never fully been integrated into the country.

Pockets of sectarian unrest have occasionally broken out in the past across the country, with Rakhine state a flashpoint for tensions.

Since violence broke out there last year, thousands of Muslim Rohingya boat people -- including a growing number of women and children -- have fled the Rakhine conflict in rickety boats, many heading for Malaysia.

Win Htein said there were around 30,000 Muslims in Meiktila out of a total population of around 80,000 but no similar clashes had happened in his lifetime.

"I think it is a consequence of what happened in Rakhine state last year," he added.