Dar Al-Ifta, the highest religious institution in the country, warned that the Islamic State militant group (IS) might use the Rohingya crisis to gain more ground and recruit more members.

The institution explained in a statement on Tuesday that the crisis is being “abused” by the militant group in order to “gather up its members after being defeated in Iraq and Syria.” It added that the group might expand in South East Asia, citing Indonesian authorities arresting several men who were allegedly planning to attack Buddhist monks.

Hundreds of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar have been killed, and more than 2,600 houses were burned in the week after a military operation by the Myanmarian army over the Muslim-majority Rakhine state in the majority-Buddhist country. The operation resulted in tens of thousands of Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh, escaping from what they described as hell.

The Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim group living in Rakhine state. They speak Rohingya or Ruaingga, and they have been denied citizenship in Myanmar since 1982.

Al-Azhar called on international bodies and organisations, as well as on human rights associations, to undertake their duties and take all necessary measures to investigate “these horrible crimes and pursue their perpetrators to bring those responsible for them to the International Court of Justice as war criminals for their brutal atrocities.”