Sittwe, Myanmar: Foreign aid workers left a strife-hit city in western Myanmar Friday after their offices came under attack during riots that left an 11-year-old girl dead.

Tearful mourners massed to pay respects to the slain child, whom police said was accidentally killed Thursday when security forces tried to quell an angry mob targeting a UN World Food Programme warehouse.

“She was hit when security forces fired warning shots to disperse people at the WFP warehouse,” Lieutenant Colonel Min Aung told AFP by telephone.

Local authorities, who have imposed a dusk to dawn curfew, said she was the only known victim of the latest bout of violence in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State.

Security forces guarded damaged buildings Friday, after mobs hurled stones, smashed property and looted warehouses of foreign humanitarian groups in a region where sectarian strife has displaced tens of thousands.

More than a dozen foreigners were seen waiting to board a flight at the city’s airport, as many humanitarian organisations temporarily removed their staff from the area to avoid further conflict.

Germany-based medical aid group Malteser International said all its staff were leaving Friday.

The unrest began late Wednesday when hundreds of Buddhists massed around Malteser’s offices in Sittwe, accusing an American aid worker of handling a religious flag in a disrespectful manner.

Malteser has denied the accusations and said the outbreak of violence was linked to an upcoming population census which is fanning tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities in the area.

Humanitarian workers in the restive region have come under increasing pressure from Buddhist nationalists who accuse them of bias in favour of local Muslims, mainly the stateless Rohingya minority.

More than 70 aid workers, including about 30 foreigners, were given police protection in the wake of the latest violence.

The offices of the UN refugee agency were among those attacked, according to state media.

The UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar Toily Kurbanov said he was “deeply concerned” by the violence, adding that the organisation was “determined” to continue operating in the region.

The US embassy in Yangon issued a statement condemning the “mob violence” and confirmed that at least three of its citizens were among the aid workers given “emergency relocation”.

Myanmar on Friday said it would set up a committee to investigate the violence — the latest in a series of probes into the ongoing conflict - with a high-level group travelling to the area Friday.

Long-standing animosity between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine erupted into bloodshed in 2012, leaving dozens dead in clashes and around 140,000 people displaced.

Buddhist flags have been hung across the city as part of protests against Muslims in the run-up to the census, which many hardline local Buddhists have vowed to boycott over fears it could allow Muslims to claim politics rights.

Last month medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was ejected from the region following a series of local protests against the organisation, leaving tens of thousands of Rohingya in isolated communities reliant on government healthcare - a shortfall authorities insist they can meet.

At the time experts warned the move may embolden Rakhine hardliners to press for the expulsion of other foreign aid groups.

The Rohingya, referred to by the United Nations as one of the world’s most persecuted peoples, are subject to a web of restrictions on travel, work and even marriage.

They are viewed by local Buddhists and the government as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.