SHAH PORIR DWIP, Bangladesh — Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh amid a fresh exodus from strife-torn Myanmar have described whole villages being emptied and thousands marching to the border as security forces redouble efforts to drive remaining Muslims from their homes.

The spike in new arrivals prompted by what Rohingya say is a fresh drive to purge Muslims still in westernmost Rakhine state — casts doubt on a Myanmar proposal aired this week to start repatriating the persecuted minority.

Rakhine has been emptied of half of its Rohingya population in weeks, and more are on the move as insecurity presses them to leave villages that have so far been spared the worst of the violence ripping through the state.

Rashida Begum, who arrived in Bangladesh late Monday, said local officials assured the Rohingya community for weeks they would be safe if they remained in their village.

“(But then) the army came and went door to door, ordering us to leave,” she said of the military sweep in Maungdaw on Friday.

“They said they wouldn’t harm us, but eventually they drove us out and burned our houses.”

Begum, 30, fled with her daughter to the coast, where hundreds of Rohingya waited to cross the Naf River dividing Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Myanmar state media said the fleeing Rohingya had left “of their own accord” despite assurances they would be safe.

“I wanted to stay in my village,” Hasina Khatun, 25, said in the coastal border town of Shah Porir Dwip.

“They (local officials) said ‘don’t go to Bangladesh. Everything will be fine’. We believed them, but nothing improved. Eventually we had to leave.”

Sumaya Bibi, a softly spoken Rohingya teenager, described more than a thousand civilians hiding along the riverbank late Monday.

She said they boarded about 10 wooden fishing boats, many overloaded and carrying mainly women and children, and drifted under the cover of darkness across the Naf where they washed up on a remote beach.

Reports are difficult to independently verify due to reporting restrictions in Rakhine.

Fazlul Haq, a local councilor in the area, said the flow of boats had almost stopped by late September but has resumed in recent days, bringing scores of Rohingya families reporting threats and intimidation by the army.

The UN said Tuesday that 509,000 refugees had crossed into Bangladesh as of Sept. 30. — AFP