YANGON (Reuters) - Eight people died and 36 were arrested in clashes between the Myanmar army and what the government believes are Rohingya Muslim militants in northern Rakhine State, state media said on Sunday, in the largest escalation of the month-old conflict yet.

A police truck passes by a Rohingya village outside Maungdaw October 26, 2016. Picture taken October 26, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Skirmishes took place throughout Saturday in villages in the north of Rakhine, leaving one officer and one soldier dead. Six bodies of attackers were recovered in the aftermath, while 36 other people believed to be involved were arrested.

About 60 attackers armed with guns, knives and spears ambushed government troops on Saturday morning, the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar said. The army returned fire, but at one point asked for army choppers to reinforce because its troops were outnumbered, the paper said.

Soldiers have poured into northern Rakhine, close to the border with Bangladesh, since Oct. 9, after an insurgent group of Rohingyas that the government believes has links to Islamists overseas launched coordinated attacks on several border posts.

The military has blocked access to the area for journalists and aid workers. Residents and human rights advocates have accused security forces of summary executions, rapes and setting fire to homes.

The government and the army have rejected the

accusations, saying they were conducting the “clearance operation” in the villages in accordance with the rule of law.

The troops at one point were shot at by about 500 men, state media said. Ye Naing, director of the Ministry of Information, contacted by Reuters on Sunday, said the insurgents were hiding among the villagers and not all of the 500 people were militants.

Security forces recovered a weapon and ammunition similar to arms taken away by the attackers on Oct. 9, state media reported.

The violence in recent weeks is the most serious to hit Rakhine since hundreds were killed in communal clashes in 2012.

Myanmar’s 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims are the majority in northern Rakhine but they are denied citizenship, with many majority Buddhists regarding them as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. They face severe travel restrictions. </s> At least 12 people have died in a series of coordinated attacks by insurgents on police posts and an army base in Myanmar.

At least five police and seven Rohingya Muslim insurgents have been killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state, the government says, after militants staged coordinated attacks on 24 police posts and tried breaking into an army base.

The overnight attacks mark a dramatic escalation in a conflict simmering in Rakhine since last October, when similar attacks that killed nine police prompted a massive military counter-offensive beset by allegations of civilian killings, rape and arson.

The military operation then resulted in some 87,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh and the United Nations accused Myanmar's security forces of likely committing crimes against humanity. </s> Arakan Army insurgents killed nine Myanmar police in the latest attack in the country’s western Rakhine State, the government said on Sunday, as clashes threaten to engulf a large part of the troubled region. </s> YANGON: Twelve people have died in the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine state in clashes between armed men and troops, state media reported on Wednesday, in a sharp escalation of violence in the restive region.

Four soldiers and one attacker were killed on Tuesday when hundreds of men wielding pistols and swords assailed troops in Pyaungpit village, in Maungdaw township.

Troops also found seven dead along with with rudimentary weapons after fighting broke out in the nearby village of Taung Paing Nyar.

“After the incident, troops found seven dead bodies,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

“Swords and sticks were found with the bodies.”

The military been scouring the region, not far from the border with Bangladesh, after nine police officers were killed on Sunday in coordinated attacks on three border posts.

Most people in the impoverished area are Muslim Rohingya, a stateless minority Buddhist nationalists vilify as illegal immigrants.

The unrest has raised the spectre of a repeat of 2012 when sectarian violence ripped through Rakhine, killing more than 100 people and driving tens of thousands of Rohingya into displacement camps.

Four men suspected of being involved in Sunday’s attacks, two of whom were named as Andra Mular Kein and Mawlawi Fordita Laung by state media, were also captured on Tuesday. AFP </s> Twelve people have died in the north of Myanmar's Rakhine state in clashes between armed men and troops, state media reported on Wednesday, in a sharp escalation of violence in the restive region.

Four soldiers and one attacker were killed on Tuesday when hundreds of men wielding pistols and swords assailed troops in Pyaungpit village, in Maungdaw township.

Troops also found seven dead along with rudimentary weapons after fighting broke out in the nearby village of Taung Paing Nyar.

“After the incident, troops found seven dead bodies,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

“Swords and sticks were found with the bodies.”

The military have been scouring the region, not far from the border with Bangladesh, after nine police officers were killed on Sunday in coordinated attacks on three border posts.

Most people in the impoverished area are Muslim Rohingya, a stateless minority Buddhist nationalists vilify as illegal immigrants.

The unrest has raised the spectre of a repeat of 2012 when sectarian violence ripped through Rakhine, killing more than 100 people and driving tens of thousands of Rohingya into displacement camps.

Four men suspected of being involved in Sunday's attacks, two of whom were named as Andra Mular Kein and Mawlawi Fordita Laung by state media, were also captured on Tuesday. </s> BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s government says 34 people were killed after they attacked government troops in western Rakhine state over the weekend, but villagers belonging to the Muslim Rohingya minority say the victims were unarmed civilians.

The government has been conducting counterinsurgency operations since nine police officers were killed in attacks last month on guard posts along the border with Bangladesh generally blamed on Muslim insurgents. Tensions have been high in Rakhine since fighting in 2012 between Buddhists and Muslims.

The government said in a statement Monday that 28 people described as violent attackers were killed on Sunday. An earlier statement said six attackers died on Saturday, in addition to two government soldiers.

Human rights groups accuse the army of abuses against the Rohingya minority, including killings, rapes and burning of homes. </s> YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar's government has reported fierce fighting in the western state of Rakhine, where the army has been conducting counterinsurgency operations since nine police officers were killed in attacks on posts along the border with Bangladesh last month.

An Information Ministry statement said government troops were ambushed Saturday morning by about 60 attackers armed with guns, knives and spears. It said one soldier and at least six attackers died, adding that an army officer died in a later battle against 500 armed men, which ended when two air force helicopters joined the fight.

The attackers weren't identified, but the army has aligned with Rakhine Buddhists against Muslims of the Rohingya ethnic minority since violent intercommunal conflict erupted in 2012. Human rights groups have accused government forces of abuses against Rohingya civilians. </s> Rakhine rebels kill nine in fresh strike on Myanmar police: official

Arakan Army insurgents killed nine Myanmar police in the latest attack in the country’s western Rakhine State, a local official said on Sunday, as clashes threaten to engulf a large part of the troubled region. </s> Nine policemen have been killed in a militant attack in the western Rakhine state of Myanmar. Nearly 60 members of the Arakan Army terrorist group attacked using small and large weapons.

The attack, carried out by Arakan Army insurgents, happened late yesterday in Yoetayoke village, just an hour north of Rakhine state’s capital Sittwe.

The insurgent Arakan Army killed 13 police in a similar attack further north in January and has frequently clashed with Myanmar security forces since December.
Eight people are killed and 36 are arrested in clashes between the Myanmar Army and what are believed to be Rohingya insurgents in Rakhine State.