Violence engulfs Myanmar

Authorities say 8 killed in fighting between Muslims, Buddhists

Northwest Myanmar was tense on Monday after sectarian violence engulfed its largest city at the weekend, with Reuters witnessing rival mobs of Muslims and Buddhists torching houses and police firing into the air to disperse crowds.

At least eight people were killed and many wounded, authorities say, in the worst communal violence since a reformist government replaced a junta last year and vowed to forge unity in one of Asia's most ethnically diverse countries.