YANGON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Rohingya Muslim insurgents ambushed a vehicle in western Myanmar's Rakhine State on Friday, wounding three people, including two members of the security forces, the military said.

A wave of attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents on the security posts on Aug. 25 sparked sweeping army counter-insurgency operations in the Muslim-majority north of the state that led to widespread violence and arson and an exodus of some 650,000 Rohingya villagers to Bangladesh.

The United Nations condemned the Myanmar military campaign as ethnic cleansing. Buddhist-majority Myanmar rejected that.

But since Aug. 25, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgents, who claimed responsibility for the coordinated raids on 30 security posts, have mounted only a few sporadic attacks.

The government did not identify the insurgents involved in the Friday attack on a vehicle taking someone to hospital but the military said in a statement they were "extremist Bengali terrorists ARSA".

"A vehicle ... was attacked by 20 insurgents from the mountain using homemade mines and small arms," the government said. The military said there were about 10 attackers.

An ARSA spokesman was not available for comment. There was no mention of any incident on a Twitter account that routinely carries statements from the group.

The Yangon-based Frontier Myanmar magazine quoted a resident of a nearby village as saying sporadic gunfire had been heard at the time of the ambush.

The area is largely off-limits to reporters.

Myanmar and Bangladesh have been discussing a plan to repatriate the Rohingya refugees but more insecurity in Myanmar is likely to raise doubts about how quickly that might take place. (Reporting by Shoon Naing; Editing by Robert Birsel) </s> YANGON (Reuters) - Rohingya Muslim insurgents ambushed a military vehicle in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, wounding five members of the security forces, state media and officials said, and the rebels claimed responsibility for the rare attack.

A wave of raids by the insurgents on security force posts on Aug. 25 sparked sweeping army counter-insurgency operations in the Muslim-majority north of the state that led to widespread violence and arson and an exodus of some 650,000 Rohingya villagers to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The United Nations condemned the Myanmar military campaign as ethnic cleansing. Buddhist-majority Myanmar rejected that.

But since Aug. 25, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgents, who claimed responsibility for the coordinated raids on 30 security posts, have mounted only a few sporadic attacks.

The military said “extremist Bengali terrorists ARSA” carried out the Friday attack on a truck taking someone to hospital.

“A vehicle ... was attacked by 20 insurgents from the mountain using homemade mines and small arms,” the government said. The military said there were about 10 attackers.

An ARSA spokesman said his group had carried out the attack.

“Yes, ARSA takes responsibility for the latest military movement,” the spokesman told Reuters through a messaging service.

He said further details may be revealed later.

The ARSA dismisses any links to Islamist militant groups and says it is fighting to end the oppression of the Rohingya people.

The Yangon-based Frontier Myanmar magazine quoted a resident of a nearby village as saying sporadic gunfire had been heard at the time of the ambush. A state-run newspaper reported on Saturday that fighting continued after the ambush.

The area is largely off-limits to reporters.

Myanmar and Bangladesh have been discussing a plan to repatriate the Rohingya refugees but more insecurity in Myanmar is likely to raise doubts about how quickly that might take place. </s> Dozens have died since Friday as scores of men purportedly from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) ambushed Myanmar police posts with knives, guns and homemade explosives </s> Rohingya rebels attacked an army truck in Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state and wounded five soldiers, state media said.

A spokesman for the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) claimed responsibility for the ambush on Friday.

“A vehicle … was attacked by 20 insurgents from the mountain using homemade mines and small arms,” the government said, adding about 10 rebels were involved.

The military added “extremist Bengali terrorists ARSA” carried out the ambush.

A series of attacks on security installations last August ignited an exodus of more than 620,000 Rohingya villagers from Rakhine into neighbouring Bangladesh, after Myanmar soldiers launched a brutal crackdown.

Fleeing Rohingya have reported many stories of mass killings, gang-rape, and arson attacks by security forces.

The United Nations has called violence against civilians “ethnic cleansing”, but Myanmar’s government has rejected the description.

A rebel spokesman confirmed his group had carried out the attack. “Yes, ARSA takes responsibility for the latest military movement,” the unidentified fighter told Reuters news agency.

Yangon-based Frontier Myanmar magazine reported six soldiers were hospitalised, one with critical wounds.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal last month for the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees, but little is known of its details. </s> The night after a series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents in northern Rakhine State, frightened residents of one area found themselves trapped by attackers’ land mines, and those evacuated from another area gathered in a nearby town patrolled by the army and police.

Authorities said police posts came under attack in the early hours Friday by an estimated 150 insurgents armed with guns and homemade explosives. The attackers were believed to be Muslim, a minority in Rakhine State, where a religious divide centers on the stateless Rohingya, who are disdained by many Buddhists and seen as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

The attacks resulted in at least 71 deaths, with Burmese officials saying 59 of them were insurgents and the rest security personnel.

Members of the local Buddhist community, who are a minority in the Maungdaw area, spent a fearful night after officials warned them that attackers had mined roads in the rugged coastal area.

“We don’t want people to get hurt,” Maung Ohn, the Maungdaw representative in the Rakhine State legislature, told VOA Burmese. “Now they are trapped inside the town.”

One Maungdaw resident, a provincial government employee, told VOA that although Buddhist Rakhines fear for their safety, “there is no way out of here. We heard about land mines and roadside bombs planted along main roads. Not even one vehicle dares to drive to Buthee Taung, two hours away. We can’t go until the mines are cleared.”

Some areas of Buthee Taung remain outside official control, said Tun Aung Thein, who represents the town in the legislature. “There are places in a Buthee Taung suburb where security forces cannot reach, and people from there have moved into the town proper. That’s where about 100 people from three villages, Thabeit Taung, Kin Chaung and Thabawh Chaung, have taken refuge, too.

“We’ve got the army and police patrolling the downtown area because everyone’s worried … because the attacks last night were around 1:30 in the morning. Nobody dares to sleep. They are frightened,” Tun Aung Thein said.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) claimed responsibility for the assaults, and warned of more.

ARSA, previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin, or “Faith Movement,” emerged last October claiming to lead an insurgency based in the remote May Yu mountain range bordering Bangladesh.

Myanmar’s commander in chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, said on his Facebook page late Friday that the attacks were planned to coincide with the release of a report by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to gain attention during the General Assembly next month.

After the attacks, government forces evacuated several dozen government staffers and their families, as well as some 400 villagers from near the Nanthataung Philanthropic School, according to the State Counsellor Office Information Committee in Rangoon.

“It is clear that today’s attacks are a calculated attempt to undermine the efforts of those seeking to build peace and harmony in Rakhine State. We must not allow our work to be derailed by the violent actions of extremists,” she said.

The violence follows the release of a report by the Annan commission on the conditions in Rakhine State.

The report urged the government to take immediate action to heal the divides and to abolish the restrictions of movement and citizenship imposed on 1 million Rohingya in Rakhine.

After meeting with Annan on Thursday, General Min Aung Hlaing expressed displeasure with the findings, saying Annan and others had failed to understand what was happening on the ground in Rakhine.

Annan commission member Aye Lwin, a prominent Muslim and interfaith leader, told VOA Burmese on Friday that the army and police need to mount a security operation in the area to prevent further attacks.

“I think the best way to resolve this conflict is to implement our recommendation as soon as possible,” Lwin said. “As militant attacks escalate in Rakhine State, we need to tackle the situation from all angles. Any clearance or security operation must be handled systematically but wisely and delicately if this is to be contained.”

The U.N. condemned Friday's attacks and said they confirm "the significance of the government's commitment to implement" the Annan commission recommendations.

Amnesty International said the attacks marked a dangerous escalation of violence in the area.

"We urge all sides to show the utmost restraint and ensure that ordinary people are protected from human rights violations and abuses," the rights group said.

The area of Rakhine closest to Bangladesh has been in lockdown since October 2016, when years of friction between the Rohingya and Myanmar's Buddhist majority exploded with a military crackdown in response to attacks on border police stations that left nine police officers dead. During the crackdown, thousands of Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh, complaining of systematic killings, arson and rapes by Myanmar military forces.

The U.N. said the security forces' clearances have amounted to ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.

The army and the Myanmar’s civilian government deny allegations of widespread abuses, including rapes and murders. </s> YANGON, Myanmar — Thirteen policemen were killed and nine injured in early morning attacks Friday on police outposts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state by the insurgent Arakan Army, state media reported.

The Arakan Army is a rebel group seeking autonomy for Rakhine state from Myanmar’s central government. It has no links with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a Muslim insurgent group whose similar attacks in 2017 sparked a bloody government counterinsurgency campaign against the area’s Muslim Rohingya minority, driving more than 700,000 to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

While the Muslim ARSA group has become virtually inactive, the Arakan Army has taken advantage of the area’s instability to increase its military activities after training its guerrillas in regions controlled by other insurgent groups, including the Kachin in northern Myanmar. There has been an upsurge in sporadic fighting between the Arakan Army and government forces since last month.

The state Myanma News Agency said a total of 250 members of the Arakan Army took part in the attacks on three outposts in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. While such numbers are sometimes inflated by the defenders, the rebel group is generally estimated to have several thousand well-armed and organized uniformed members, in contrast to the ragtag ARSA.

The report said two of the outposts were successfully defended by government forces, but seemed to indicate that the third was temporarily overrun and occupied by the rebels, who were finally driven out with the help of air support.

According to the report, the attackers were able to carry away 40 small weapons, ammunition and a walkie-talkie.

A photo posted on social media by Arakan Army sympathizers claimed to show 14 government security personnel captured by the rebels, along with ammunition and other equipment. </s> MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a group of extremist Muslim insurgents, has declared a unilateral ceasefire in Myanmar for a month starting Sunday, the group said in a statement.

"The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) hereby declares a temporary cessation of offensive military operations in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung Townships for a one-month period (10 September 2017 — 09 October 2017) in order to enable humanitarian actors to assess and respond to the humanitarian crisis in Arakan State," the statement read.

"ARSA strongly encourages all concerned humanitarian actors resume their humanitarian assistance to all victims of the humanitarian crisis, irrespective of ethnic or religious background during the ceasefire period," the statement added.

In recent weeks, the tensions between the Rohingyas living in Myanmar and the local Buddhist majority have escalated after Muslim insurgents attacked security posts in the country’s northern Rakhine state, formerly named Arakan, and Myanmar launched a military operation against the insurgents. Nearly 400 people were killed.

The crisis has made dozens of thousands of Rohingyas leave Myanmar following the escalation. According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the number of refugees that have arrived in Bangladesh is estimated at about 146,000. </s> Campaign group Amnesty International said on Tuesday it had gathered evidence that insurgents from a Rohingya Muslim armed group killed scores of Hindu civilians in August last year, amid a surge in violence in western Myanmar.

A military response to insurgent attacks on 30 police posts and an army base in northern Rakhine state the early hours of Aug. 25 pushed almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims across the border to Bangladesh, many accusing security forces of killings, rape and arson.

Senior UN officials have said the response amounted to ethnic cleansing and that Myanmar`s security forces may have committed genocide. Amnesty International`s research is the first published by an international human rights group to document in detail alleged atrocities by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).

It said masked ARSA fighters killed as many as 99 Hindus near a remote village named Kha Maung Seik shortly after launching the coordinated attacks on security posts.

Amnesty International cited witnesses including eight Hindu women who alleged they were abducted by ARSA fighters and forced to convert to Islam. Some of the women had earlier told media including Reuters that their loved ones were killed by Buddhists, but later recanted their stories, saying they had been coerced by their captors.

Myanmar is majority Buddhist, and the Rohingya are Muslim. The country also has a Christian minority and a smaller number of Hindus. Myanmar authorities in September unearthed 45 bodies near Kha Maung Seik and accused the ARSA of carrying out the killings.

Reuters was unable to reach an ARSA representative for comment on Tuesday. ARSA said in a Sept. 27 statement it "categorically denies that any of its members or combatants perpetrated murder" and other abuses in villages including Kha Maung Seik.

Myanmar`s main government spokesman Zaw Htay said he could not comment on Tuesday evening as he had not seen the report.

Amnesty International also said it had documented a separate killing of six Hindus by ARSA fighters on Aug. 26 near the town of Maungdaw.

“It’s hard to ignore the sheer brutality of ARSA’s actions, which have left an indelible impression on the survivors we’ve spoken to," Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International`s crisis response director, said in a statement.

"Accountability for these atrocities is every bit as crucial as it is for the crimes against humanity carried out by Myanmar’s security forces in northern Rakhine State."

ARSA emerged as a group with earlier attacks on border posts in 2016. Its leader, Ata Ullah, has said it is fighting for the rights of the Rohingya, who have long complained of persecution as a stateless minority in Myanmar.

Reporters have been unable freely to visit parts of northern Rakhine for more than 18 months.

"After careful review of evidence obtained in Bangladesh and Rakhine State, Amnesty International has concluded that ARSA fighters are responsible for the massacre," Amnesty said, calling for Myanmar to grant U.N. investigators access to the conflict area to document atrocities by both ARSA and the military. </s> YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Thirteen policemen were killed and nine injured in early morning attacks Friday on police outposts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state by the insurgent Arakan Army, state media reported. The Arakan Army is…

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Thirteen policemen were killed and nine injured in early morning attacks Friday on police outposts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state by the insurgent Arakan Army, state media reported.

The Arakan Army is a rebel group seeking autonomy for Rakhine state from Myanmar’s central government. It has no links with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a Muslim insurgent group whose similar attacks in 2017 sparked a bloody government counterinsurgency campaign against the area’s Muslim Rohingya minority, driving more than 700,000 to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

While the Muslim ARSA group has become virtually inactive, the Arakan Army, which is aligned with the state’s Buddhist population, has taken advantage of the area’s instability to increase its military activities after training its guerrillas in regions controlled by other insurgent groups, including the Kachin in northern Myanmar. There has been an upsurge in sporadic fighting between the Arakan Army and government forces since last month.

The state Myanmar News Agency said a total of 250 members of the Arakan Army took part in the attacks on three outposts in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. While such numbers are sometimes inflated by the defenders, the rebel group is generally estimated to have several thousand well-armed and organized uniformed members, in contrast to the ragtag ARSA.

The report said two of the outposts were successfully defended by government forces, but seemed to indicate that the third was temporarily overrun and occupied by the rebels, who were finally driven out with the help of air support.

According to the report, the attackers were able to carry away 40 small weapons, ammunition and a walkie-talkie.

A photo posted on social media by Arakan Army sympathizers claimed to show 14 government security personnel captured by the rebels, along with ammunition and other equipment.

This story has been corrected to fix spelling of Myanmar News Agency.

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ARSA insurgents, using small arms and homemade land mines, ambush a Burmese military convoy in the village of Turaing. Three members of Myanmar's security forces are reportedly wounded.