"A leading United Nations human rights expert claims the Myanmar military is carrying out "war crimes" against ethnic minorities, emboldened by special extended powers intended to help control the spread of the coronavirus. Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, accused the military of targeting ethnic Rakhine Buddhist civilians during recent clashes with the Arakan Army (AA), a separatist militant group in the western Rakhine State. Lee told CNN that houses had been burned, a monastery was attacked and people had been arrested and tortured. "And then we find bodies that have been decapitated, these are Rakhine people," Lee said Tuesday, as she prepared to conclude her six-year tenure as special rapporteur. "I am calling the situation crimes against humanity and war crimes. These are the highest, the most heinous and gravest crimes of international law," she added. CNN has reached out to the Myanmar government regarding Lee's comments but has not yet received a response. Lee said the Myanmar military has been given a "significant" political role in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far infected 150 people in Myanmar, including six who died, ​according to data published by John​s Hopkins University. Key military generals and military-controlled ministries were appointed to a new coronavirus committee in March, increasing the remit of the military under its delicate power-sharing agreement with the country's civilian-led government..."