A woman looks at destroyed buildings following ethnic unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Meikhtila, Mandalay division, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Myanmar's army took control of a ruined central city on Saturday, imposing a tense calm after several days of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims left piles of corpses in the streets and buildings ablaze in the worst sectarian bloodshed to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
A woman looks at destroyed buildings following ethnic unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Meikhtila, Mandalay division, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Myanmar's army took control of a ruined central city on Saturday, imposing a tense calm after several days of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims left piles of corpses in the streets and buildings ablaze in the worst sectarian bloodshed to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
People walk among debris of destroyed buildings following ethnic unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Meikhtila, Mandalay division, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Myanmar's army took control of a ruined central city on Saturday, imposing a tense calm after several days of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims left piles of corpses in the streets and buildings ablaze in the worst sectarian bloodshed to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
Destroyed motorcycles and cars are seen outside a mosque following ethnic unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Meikhtila, Mandalay division, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Myanmar's army took control of a ruined central city on Saturday, imposing a tense calm after several days of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims left piles of corpses in the streets and buildings ablaze in the worst sectarian bloodshed to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
Smoke rises from debris of a destroyed building following ethnic unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Meikhtila, Mandalay division, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar, Saturday, March 23, 2013. Myanmar's army took control of a ruined central city on Saturday, imposing a tense calm after several days of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims left piles of corpses in the streets and buildings ablaze in the worst sectarian bloodshed to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
MEIKHTILA, Myanmar (AP) ? Myanmar's army took control of a ruined central city on Saturday, imposing a tense calm after several days of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims left piles of corpses in the streets and buildings ablaze in the worst sectarian bloodshed to hit the Southeast Asian nation this year.
Truckloads of soldiers patrolled Meikhtila, taking up positions at intersections and banks as authorities delivered food and water to thousands of displaced Muslims who fled. Some residents, who had cowered indoors since the mayhem began Wednesday, emerged from their homes to inspect the destruction in which at least 28 people died.
President Thein Sein, a former general who vowed to bring democracy to Myanmar after half a century of military rule, imposed a state of emergency in the region Friday. The unrest was the first of its kind in the country since two similar bouts of bloodshed shook western Rakhine state last year, and its spread underscores both the immense challenges of reform and the government's failure to rein in anti-Muslim sentiment in a predominantly Buddhist nation. Even monks have armed themselves and staged anti-Muslim rallies, taking advantage of newfound freedoms.
It was not immediately clear which side bore the brunt of the latest unrest, but at least five mosques were torched, and terrified Muslims, who make up about 30 percent of Meikhtila's 100,000 inhabitants, have stayed off the streets as their shops and homes burned and Buddhist mobs carrying machetes and hammers tried to stop firefighters from dousing the flames.
"Calm has been restored after troops took charge of security," said Win Htein, an opposition lawmaker from Meikhtila. "So far, nearly 6,000 Muslim people have been relocated at a stadium and a police station for their safety."
Residents said rescue workers and volunteers were arriving from other towns to help, and that local Buddhists were giving food and water to displaced Muslims. Some Buddhists sought shelter at local monasteries.
Little appeared to be left of some palm tree-lined neighborhoods, though, where the legs of victims could be seen poking out from smoldering masses of twisted debris and ash. Broken glass, destroyed motorcycles and overturned tables littered roads beside rows of burned-out homes and shops, evidence of the widespread chaos that swept the town.
Local businessman San Hlaing said he counted 28 bodies this week, all men, piled in groups around the town, including beside a highway.
The struggle to contain the violence has proven another major challenge to Thein Sein's reformist administration, two years after he took office and attempted to chart a path to democracy after nearly half a century of military rule that once crushed all dissent.
Despite ushering in an era of reform, he has faced not only outbreaks of sectarian violence, but an upsurge in fighting with ethnic Kachin rebels in the north and major protests at a northern copper mine where angry residents ? emboldened by promises of freedom of expression ? have come out to denounce land grabbing.
The devastation in Meikhtila was reminiscent of last year's clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya that left hundreds of people dead and more than 100,000 displaced ? almost all of them Muslim. The Rohingya are widely perceived as illegal migrants and foreigners from Bangladesh; the Muslim population of Meikhtila is believed to be mostly of Indian origin.
This week's chaos began Wednesday after an argument broke out between a Muslim gold shop owner and his Buddhist customers. Once news spread that a Muslim man had killed a Buddhist monk, Buddhist mobs rampaged through a Muslim neighborhood and the situation quickly spiraled out of control.
Residents and activists said the police did little to stop the rioters or reacted too slowly, allowing the violence to escalate. "They were like scarecrows in a paddy field," San Hlaing said.
Khin Maung Swe, a 72-year-old Muslim lawyer who said he lost all his savings, also complained authorities did nothing to disperse the mobs.
"If the military and police had showed up in force, those troublemakers would have run away," he said, inspecting the remains of his damaged home. "There would have been no violence if the security forces had just fired shots into the air to scare them away."
San Htwe, a 39-year-old housewife, said she could see police and soldiers "everywhere" in Meikhtila on Saturday but did not feel at ease. "I'm afraid that the situation will be like in Rakhine" ? where sectarian tensions have split an entire state and Buddhist and Muslim communities live in near-total segregation, constantly fearing more violence.
San Htwe said her 8-year-old son was already traumatized by the riots and could barely eat. "Whenever he hears shouting, he says, in panic, 'Mom, let's run! The kalar are coming." Kalar is a derogatory word for Muslims.
"I think most children here have experienced trauma," she said. "I worry that it will remain in their minds forever."
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. was deeply concerned about communal violence, loss of life and property damage in Meikhtila, and that U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell had raised the concerns with senior Myanmar government officials.
"We welcome and encourage the efforts of government authorities, community leaders, civil society and political party leaders to restore calm, to foster dialogue and increase tolerance in a manner that respects human rights and due process of law," Nuland told a news briefing.
Occasional isolated violence involving Myanmar's majority Buddhist and minority Muslim communities has occurred for decades, even under the authoritarian military governments that ruled the country from 1962 to 2011.
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