Seven people were injured when a vehicle carrying military and police was attacked by 20 Rohingya militants in Myanmar’s troubled northern Rakhine State, the country’s military said on Friday.

One officer, five soldiers and a civilian were taken to hospital after an attack by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, ARSA, using weapons and home-made bombs on a vehicle in Maungdaw at 10 a.m. (0330 GMT) on Friday.

A separate statement by the government’s information committee also released on Facebook said the identity of the attackers was unknown.

Myanmar said on Thursday it would begin repatriation of more than 650,000 minority Rohingya refugees who fled a brutal army crackdown in northern Rakhine State by January 22.

The UN described the crackdown as “ethnic cleansing.”

The military launched operations dogged by accusations of rape, arson and extrajudicial killings committed by the security forces in the wake of coordinated deadly attacks on police outposts by ARSA on August 25. (dpa/NAN)