Recent clashes among Myanmar citizens in Malaysia were between rival groups and not related to the sectarian violence in their country, a senior diplomat said today.

Myanmar Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs U Zin Yaw said the groups used the religious tension in their home country as an excuse to start the fights.

“It is not related to the violence in Myanmar and also did not involve local people (Malaysians),” he said after meeting with officials from Malaysia’s Home Affairs Ministry.

He said Myanmar would fully cooperate with Malaysian authorities to help resolve the problem.

At least two Myanmar citizens were killed and several others injured in the clashes that erupted between May 30 and June 4 in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas.

Malaysia’s immigration officials have detained 250 Myanmar citizens who were rounded up by police after the fighting broke out and were found to have no valid documents.

Deadly sectarian clashes between Myanmar’s majority Buddhists and the Muslim ethnic Rohingya minority have taken place since last year in the country’s western state of Rakhine, killing hundreds of people.

Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country, is home to more than 80,000 Myanmar nationals, many of them Rohingya who allegedly face persecution by Myanmar’s Buddhist authorities.

Yante Ismail, external relations officer of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kuala Lumpur, said the UNHCR was working closely with the Malaysian police to verify the status of the detained Myanmar nationals.

“For all persons who have not yet been registered but who have expressed the need for international protection, UNHCR will seek access to them to secure their release so that their claims may be verified,” she said.

- dpa