Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Burma have told how the military targeted children and the elderly in sickening attacks.

The Muslim minority refugees said soldiers and Buddhist leaders carried out a systematic campaign of murder and burning villages - accusations that military leaders have denied.

Shawkat Ara, 38, said soldiers attacked her village in the middle of the night and she hid in the jungle with fellow villagers as they watched their houses burn.

She said: “The military told the young boys to stand in a line and told them to run. When they were running they rushed them from behind and they were falling in ditches.

“Some were cut into pieces and thrown into ditches. They were all between 10 and 12 years old.

“The military were actually playing with the boys. They were telling them to run and then cutting them.”

She added: “I broke my hand crawling into the jungle. When the soldiers started firing, people were running here and there, it was totally messed up.

“Fathers were not staying with their sons and sons were not looking for their fathers, just running for their lives.

“The small children were the worst affected because they can't run.”

Despite a recent agreement with the Burmese government for repatriation, refugees continue to arrive in Bangladesh, joining 646,000 who have braved the dangerous border crossing since the surge in violence after Rohingya militants reportedly attacked border posts in August.

Alistair Dutton, director of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (Sciaf), which has raised more than £160,000 to help the refugees, said: “I don't know who's guilty of what but what has happened are crimes against humanity.

“The chopping people up, shooting them, burning bodies, torching villages, stealing belongings and driving people out their country - these are crimes against humanity whoever perpetrated them.”

Mr Dutton warned the crisis could last for years, stressing that Sciaf and charity partner Caritas Bangladesh were planning for the long term as the average time a person spends as a refugee is 17 years.

Mrs Ara, who saw her parents and one son die from hunger as she made the arduous journey to safety in Bangladesh, said she also witnessed soldiers attacking the elderly.

She said her neighbour, an elderly imam, was shot and attacked with machetes before being burned.

Kamal Hossain, 41, one of the Rohingya refugees who met the Pope on his recent visit to Burma and Bangladesh, said 80% of 9,675 people were killed in the district where he was leader.

He said: “The military applied their tricks - they were killing the elderly and young people first so that the other people would do nothing to them. They apply these techniques.

Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Show all 15 1 /15 Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Badiul Alam, 52, appointed as the manager of one grouping of refugees, shows the rifle-butt injury he sustained during his flight from Myanmar Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Abdur Rahim, 50, fled Myanmar with his family of seven. It took a month for them to walk to Bangladesh, carrying all their possessions on their shoulders. They haven’t yet found a place to put down their belongings after a gruelling journey Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Various refugee camps – Kutupalong, Balukhali and Moinerghona – have merged into one vast sprawl spread over many muddy hills that just a few months ago were a rolling green nature reserve Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps A Red Cross aid-worker supervises an aid distribution point on the edge of the Moinerghona camp, saying they have never known refugees anywhere in the world stand so patiently in line in such heat to be registered and receive aid without any tension or anger Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Last week the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal to return the Rohingya to Rakhine. But many worry that they will face further reprisals if they return, and there was no mention of what would happen to those who refused to go back Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps A quiet calm pervades the camps. Is it relief at being free from fear, or do feelings about the horrors witnessed remain suppressed? Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps The aid response is focused on providing food, water and shelter for people who fled with nothing Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps The effort is now well-organised and trucks delivering supplies move up and down the main road between Cox’s Bazar and Teknaf all day long Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Only men are in the aid queue, as separate queues are often set up for men and women. Sixty-five-year-old Nur Ahmed wears his ID card which shows he has been formally registered to receive aid Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Ajmin Ara, 70, wanders around disorientated. She has lost her entire family and fled to Bangladesh alone; she is painfully thin/skeletal and very weak, but is receiving medical care from a small clinic set up to the side of the aid queue Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps It’s estimated that 620,000 Rohingya people have fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in the last three months. Many say they were doing their morning prayers or cooking food when their villages were attacked and they fled, often with only the clothes they were wearing Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Nur Asha, 47, sits quietly in the crowd until she can no longer restrain herself and her story comes out in a torrent: how she fled with her son when the military attacked her village but doesn’t know where her other relatives are, how throats were slashed, how children were thrown into fires, how rice paddy fields were filled with bodies left for the dogs to eat Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Mohammed Sayed, 24, fled Myanmar about a month ago with his parents, wife and sister after their home was burnt down and many people in their village were killed Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Children flock around the queue and one boy has made a hat from an empty medicine package to shield himself from the heat, but other boys playing nearby tease him and knock it off his head and soon it is ripped to pieces Hope in Bangladesh’s Rohingya camps Children who have fled with nothing make toy cars from empty bottles and kites from plastic bags. Despite the horrors they will have witnessed, children still laugh and play for the camera

“Most people were burned and killed in fires set by the military. After the killing they threw the bodies into the ditches so people can't take the water because it is full of blood.

“The villagers had no food, so that made them flee.”

He also said the military forced him to watch as they raped his daughter-in-law.