56 dead in Myanmar communal violence: Official

Yangon: At least 56 people have been killed and thousands of homes torched in a wave of communal violence convulsing western Myanmar, a Rakhine state spokesman told AFP on Friday.

"Twenty-five men and 31 women have been killed in four townships and 2,000 houses were burnt," Win Myaing said, following the recent outbreak of violence between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya Muslims in the troubled state.