At least 32 people, including 11 security personnel, have been killed in militant attacks on police posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state. <br/><br/>More than 20 posts were targeted by Muslim militants in pre-dawn raids, the government said, in Rakhine's worst violence for months.<br/><br/>Rakhine has been hit by clashes between Muslim and Buddhist communities. The attacks come a day after a report warned more people would be radicalised if ethnic tensions are not addressed.<br/><br/>Rakhine state, in western Myanmar, is home to more than a million Rohingya Muslims. Tensions with the majority Buddhist population have been rumbling for years, and tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, accusing Myanmar authorities of ethnic persecution.

At least 21 insurgents and 11 members of the security forces were killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state today when militants staged a major coordinated attack on 24 police posts and an army base. <br/><br/>The military said, the fighting – still going on in some areas – marked a major escalation in a simmering conflict in the northwestern state since last October, when similar attacks prompted a big military sweep beset by allegations of serious rights abuses.<br/><br/>The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a group previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin, or Faith Movement, which instigated the October attacks, claimed responsibility for the early morning offensive, and warned of more attacks.