The world's top Islamic body called Saturday for the international community to protect Muslims in Myanmar's unrest-hit Rakhine state from "genocide" as U.S. President Barack Obama readied for a landmark trip to the country.

"We expect from the United states to convey a strong message to the government of Burma so they protect that minority, what is going on there is a genocide," said Djibouti Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, who is the acting chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Moving to encourage reform in Myanmar ahead of a landmark trip by President Barack Obama, the United States has scrapped a nearly decade-old ban on most imports from the long-isolated nation.

The world's largest economy will open up to products from the country formerly known as Burma with the exception of gems, a sector seen as a major driver of corruption and violence.

Myanmar's president has condemned sectarian violence that has left scores dead and promised to handle many of the grievances, U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon announced Friday.

President Thein Sein made the vow in a letter to Ban in which he said the perpetrators of the violence in Rakhine state would face justice, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar at the weekend has left 26 people dead, 12 others missing and about 230 injured, according to a new toll given by the Red Cross on Tuesday.

"In total, 26 people have died so far," Myanmar Red Cross Society deputy general secretary Aung Kyaw Htut told Agence France Presse. "We have provided tarpaulin sheets to some of the victims and they are staying in temporary shelters."

Police in southeastern Bangladesh have detained five Rohingya Muslims who fled deadly communal clashes in neighboring Myanmar, an officer said on Sunday.

Mohammad Ismail, a police chief of Satkania in the district of Chittagong, said that the male detainees, aged between 25 and 45, were charged with illegal entry.

A powerful earthquake which hit Myanmar Sunday killed at least 13 people, injured dozens and sparked panic in the central city of Mandalay, residents and aid workers said.

The shallow 6.8-magnitude quake struck in a rural area 116 kilometers (72 miles) north of Mandalay followed by a series of aftershocks, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

Investigators searched for clues Saturday to the cause of a train derailment and an ensuing blaze that killed 25 people and injured nearly 100 more in northern Myanmar.

Two petrol tankers loaded onto the train overturned in Friday's accident and local villagers collecting the fuel were burned to death as flames tore across the crash site.

The United States, Britain and other countries called Friday for Myanmar to ensure unhindered humanitarian access to tens of thousands of people displaced by sectarian unrest in western Rakhine state.

In a joint statement, nine embassies in Yangon urged "all parties to work together to bring an immediate end to the violence".

The U.N. human rights chief called on Myanmar Friday to allow Muslim Rohingya to become citizens after deadly sectarian violence in recent months in the western state of Rakhine.

The group's statelessness is at the heart of two major outbreaks of unrest between Buddhist and Muslim communities that has left 180 dead and forced more than 110,000, mainly Rohingya, into makeshift camps since June.

Rohingya Muslims' statelessness is at the heart of bloody unrest that has torn through western Myanmar, but experts say the regime is unlikely to risk public ire by lifting them from citizenship limbo.

Rakhine state remains explosively tense after being convulsed by two major outbreaks of fighting involving Buddhist and Muslim communities since June that have left 180 dead and more than 110,000, mainly Rohingya, crammed into makeshift camps.