Myanmar's military may be carrying out crimes against humanity in attacks on the country's Rohingya minority, Amnesty International has warned.

The organisation accuses state security forces of killing, raping and opening fire on Rohingya Muslims from helicopter gunships in a two-month campaign of systematic violence.

A UN official recently described the military's actions as "ethnic cleansing".

A special operation zone has been declared in northern Rakhine state in Myanmar, also known as Burma, where the atrocities are alleged to have taken place, preventing journalists and aid agencies from travelling to the region and making the reports impossible to verify.

Through analysis of satellite imagery and interviews with survivors, however, Amnesty says it has built up a picture of brutal attacks against the Rohingya.


Image: Rohingya refugees have set up makeshift camps. Pic: Amnesty

"The Burmese military has targeted Rohingya civilians in a callous and systematic campaign of violence, " Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International's director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said.

"Men, women, children, whole families and entire villages have been attacked and abused, as a form of collective punishment.

"The deplorable actions of the military could be part of a widespread and systematic attack on a civilian population and may amount to crimes against humanity."

Image: A villager told Amnesty of attacks on the village of Kyet Yoe Pyin

The military action follows an attack on a police border post in October, in which nine officers were killed, but rights groups say the subsequent operation has gone far beyond what could be considered a proportional response to the security threat.

Survivors have described helicopter gunships firing randomly on fleeing villagers, and in at least one instance, soldiers dragging people from their houses and shooting them dead.

"We got scared when we heard the noise from the helicopter," a 30-year-old man whose name was not given, told researchers.

Image: Amnesty says it has evidence of buildings being destroyed

"The soldiers were shooting randomly. If they saw someone, the helicopter shot. They were shooting for a long time... we could not sleep at night. The next morning the military came and started shooting again."

Several Rohingya women described being gang-raped by soldiers.

"Three military officers raped me," said a 32-year-old Rohingya woman named Fatimah.

"I don't remember what happened next because I fell unconscious.

"I woke up early the next morning. I could not get up so I crawled across the paddy field."

Others detailed violent treatment at the hands of security forces as Rohingya men were arrested and taken away.

"My two sons were tied up - the military tied their hands behind their backs - they were beaten badly. The military kicked them in the chest. I saw it myself. I was crying so loudly," one mother said.

Approximately 27,000 Rohingya have fled across the border to Bangladesh over the last two months, according to a UN estimate, but thousands have reportedly been detained and sent back.

Tens of thousands of people are now feared to be at risk from a humanitarian crisis in a region where malnutrition levels were already critically high.

Human rights groups accuse the country's de facto leader, Nobel laureate and global human rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi, of failing to live up to her political and moral responsibility by refusing to condemn the situation in the country's northwest.

Myanmar's military denies the allegations and says Rohingya militants are burning down their own homes.