YANGON (REUTERS) - Two hunters from a remote village in the north of Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state were killed and two others were injured by unidentified gunmen after crossing the border into Bangladesh, Myanmar's government said on Monday (Oct 23).

The incident took place on Sunday (Oct 22) evening near the village of Aung Thabyay, which is located some 2 kilometres from Myanmar's border with Bangladesh.

"The four crossed the border fence while searching for a boar and got shot by 15 people wearing civilian clothes with guns 100 yards from the border fence," Myanmar said in a statement that gave no other details.

The wounded hunters were treated at a hospital in the regional town of Maungdaw, some 60 kilometres south of where the incident took place.

The hunters belong to a small ethnic group from northern Rakhine called the Daingnet that is mostly Buddhist. Unlike the Rohingya Muslims, they are recognised among Myanmar's 135"national races".

About 600,000 people have crossed the border since Aug 25 when Rohingya Muslim insurgent attacks on security posts were met by a counter-offensive by the Myanmar army in Rakhine.

The United Nations says the government's actions amount to ethnic cleansing.