NEW satellite photos of Myanmar’s Rakhine state show that the government is carrying out a vast operation to bulldoze villages torched by government soldiers and Buddhist extremists.

Human rights activists said that by destroying the remains of the villages, Myanmar was covering up widespread atrocities against the country’s Rohingya Muslim population.

Images released to the Associated Press yesterday by US-based DigitalGlobe show that dozens of empty villages and hamlets have been completely levelled by authorities in recent weeks — far more than previously reported.

The villages were all set ablaze in a widespread army crackdown on Muslims that began last August, causing hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s government claims that it’s just trying to rebuild the region.

But Rohingya refugees have been horrified, saying that the government makes it impossible for them to return to claim land they have lived on for generations.

Myanmar denies citizenship to the Rohingya, claiming ludicrously that they are all illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

One displaced Rohingya woman, whose village was among those bulldozed, said she recently visited her former home in Myin Hlut and was shocked by what she saw.

Most houses had been torched last year, but now “everything is gone, not even the trees are left,” the 18-year-old, named Zubairia, told reporters by telephone.

DigitalGlobe’s images indicate at least 28 villages were bulldozed in a 30-mile radius around the town of Maungdaw between December and February. On some of the cleared areas, construction crews had erected new buildings and helipads.

• Myanmar MPs voted on Thursday to approve funding for an £11 million fence along the border with Bangladesh, which the military — which still controls related government departments — said was two-thirds complete.