The Myanmar Army has claimed on Sunday that it has discovered a mass grave of 28 Hindus in violence-hit Rakhine state. The Army also claimed that the killings were done by Muslim Rohingya militants, reports stated.

With scores of villages being burnt and thousands of refugees fleeing the nation, the announcement made by the army could not be verified independently, since Rohingya militant raids on August 25 triggered a security crackdown.

“Security members found and dug up 28 dead bodies of Hindus who were cruelly violently and killed by ARSA extremist Bengali terrorists in Rakhine State,” a statement posted on the army chief’s website said, Hindustan Times reported.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) is the group whose attacks on police posts had triggered an army backlash. With several incidences of human rights’ violations being reported, the UN has openly declared violence in the Buddhist-majority state as tantamount to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority.