Hundreds of Rohingya Escape Malaysia Detention, Six Dead

More than 100,000 Rohingya live on the margins of society in the country, working illegally in construction and other low-paid jobs. (File/AFP)
More than 100,000 Rohingya live on the margins of society in the country, working illegally in construction and other low-paid jobs. (File/AFP)
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Hundreds of Rohingya Escape Malaysia Detention, Six Dead

More than 100,000 Rohingya live on the margins of society in the country, working illegally in construction and other low-paid jobs. (File/AFP)
More than 100,000 Rohingya live on the margins of society in the country, working illegally in construction and other low-paid jobs. (File/AFP)

Hundreds of Rohingya migrants from Myanmar broke out of a detention center in northern Malaysia on Wednesday with six killed on a highway as they escaped, authorities said.

Many Rohingya arrive in Malaysia by boat after enduring harrowing, months-long sea journeys. Those that are caught are often sent to detention centers, which rights groups say are typically overcrowded and filthy, AFP said.

A total of 528 people from the Muslim minority group fled a center in Kedah state at 4:30 am (2030 GMT Tuesday), the country's immigration chief Khairul Dzaimee Daud said.

"A total of 362 detainees have been re-arrested. The search for the remaining detainees is continuing," he said in a statement.

They broke through a door and barriers at the temporary immigration center, he added.

Six of the detainees were killed as they sought to cross a highway after escaping, said Penang state police chief Mohamad Shuhaily Mohamad Zain.

Those killed were two adult men, two adult women, one girl and one boy, he said.

Police, other agencies and the public are hunting for the detainees still missing.

Relatively affluent, Muslim-majority Malaysia is a key destination for Rohingya fleeing persecution in their predominantly Buddhist homeland or refugee camps in Bangladesh.

More than 100,000 Rohingya live on the margins of society in the country, working illegally in construction and other low-paid jobs.



Russia Advances in Ukraine at Fastest Monthly Pace Since Start of War, Analysts Say

A police officer drives a vehicle past burning trees during an evacuation of civilians from the outskirts of the Kurakhove town, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine September 16, 2024. (Reuters)
A police officer drives a vehicle past burning trees during an evacuation of civilians from the outskirts of the Kurakhove town, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine September 16, 2024. (Reuters)
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Russia Advances in Ukraine at Fastest Monthly Pace Since Start of War, Analysts Say

A police officer drives a vehicle past burning trees during an evacuation of civilians from the outskirts of the Kurakhove town, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine September 16, 2024. (Reuters)
A police officer drives a vehicle past burning trees during an evacuation of civilians from the outskirts of the Kurakhove town, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine September 16, 2024. (Reuters)

Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine at the fastest rate since the early days of the 2022 invasion, taking an area half the size of Greater London over the past month, analysts and war bloggers say.

The war is entering what some Russian and Western officials say could be its most dangerous phase after Moscow's forces made some of their biggest territorial gains and the United States allowed Kyiv to strike back with US missiles.

"Russia has set new weekly and monthly records for the size of the occupied territory in Ukraine," independent Russian news group Agentstvo said in a report.

The Russian army captured almost 235 sq km (91 sq miles) in Ukraine over the past week, a weekly record for 2024, it said.

Russian forces had taken 600 sq km (232 sq miles) in November, it added, citing data from DeepState, a group with close links to the Ukrainian army that studies combat footage and provides frontline maps.

Russia began advancing faster in eastern Ukraine in July just as Ukrainian forces carved out a sliver of its western region of Kursk. Since then, the Russian advance has accelerated, according to open source maps.

Russia's forces are moving into the town of Kurakhove, a stepping stone towards the logistical hub of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, and have been exploiting the vulnerabilities of Kyiv troops along the frontline, analysts said.

"Russian forces recently have been advancing at a significantly quicker rate than they did in the entirety of 2023," analysts at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a report.

The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said in its Monday update that 45 battles of varying intensity were raging along the Kurakhove part of the frontline that evening.

The Institute for the Study of War report and pro-Russian military bloggers say Russian troops are in Kurakhove. Deep State said on its Telegram messaging app on Monday that Russian forces are near Kurakhove.

"Russian forces' advances in southeastern Ukraine are largely the result of the discovery and tactical exploitation of vulnerabilities in Ukraine's lines," Institute analysts said in their report.

Russia says it will achieve all of its aims in Ukraine no matter what the West says or does.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly said peace cannot be established until all Russian forces are expelled and all territory captured by Moscow, including Crimea, is returned.

But outnumbered by Russian troops, the Ukrainian military is struggling to recruit soldiers and provide equipment to new units.

Zelenskiy has said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin's main objectives were to occupy the entire Donbas, spanning the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and oust Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, parts of which they have controlled since August.