US sanctions Myanmar generals over killings of Rohingya

WASHINGTON – The United States is hitting four top Myanmar generals, including the country’s commander in chief and his deputy, with sanctions over the mass killings of Rohingya Muslims.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Tuesday that the four are responsible for “gross human rights violations” involving extrajudicial killings in an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state.

The sanctions bar those targeted and their immediate families from traveling to the United States.

The four men are: Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, his deputy Soe Win, and two subordinates deemed responsible for the abuses.

Myanmar’s military has been accused of widespread rights violations leading about 700,000 Rohingya to flee the country since August 2017. /gsg