Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: More than 15,000 Muslims have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar over the past two weeks, many saying they left to escape persecution by the military, witnesses and officials said on Thursday.

They said the refugees, called Rohingyas, have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar’s western Arakan state. They searched for work, set up small camps and even asked to settle permanently in Bangladesh.

Refugee Zarina Begum, 25, said she and some of her relatives had crossed the Naf river two weeks ago after her husband was picked up by Myanmar troops. The river forms part of the border between the neighbours.

“I decided to run away after being unable to get any news about him and fearing that I could be the next victim,” she said.

The refugees brought along many tales of young Rohingya women being picked up and raped by troops while male members of their families were forced to work without pay.

More than 250,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh in the 1990s, accusing Myanmar’s military of killing and torturing members of the minority group.

Most of the refugees were repatriated under the supervision of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) but about 20,000 remain, waiting to return home.

Bangladeshi officials said most of the latest arrivals were economic refugees but some had been forced to flee their country.

Witnesses said many of the new refugees had little, if any, food or medical care because authorities in Bangladesh and the UNHCR did not recognise them as legitimate refugees.

“The newly arriving refugees have erected makeshift huts with bamboo and plastic sheets at Damdamia (in Teknaf border area),” said local administrator Matinul Haque.

Teknaf, 500 km (312 miles) southeast of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, is on the Naf river.

“Give us a permanent shelter here, or send us to any other country where we can live in peace, and without harassment,” said 70-year-old Abul Kashem Sardar, a refugee leader, told reporters visiting Damdamia on Thursday.

Bangladeshi officials said they feared more Rohingyas might sneak into Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf, especially ahead of Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival due in middle of this month, when wealthy Muslims donate money and clothes to the poor. (Reporting by Nizam Ahmed and Muhammad Nurul Islam in Cox’s Bazar).