Burma will refuse entry to members of a United Nations probe focusing on allegations of killings, rape and torture by security forces against Rohingya Muslims, an official said on Friday.

Burma’s army on Tuesday rejected allegations of human rights abuses during its crackdown on Rohingya Muslim last year, made by the United Nations in a report on the offensive that forced some 75,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Burma’s military defended its crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority as a lawful counterinsurgency operation at a rare news conference on Tuesday, adding it was necessary to defend the country.

Following the release last week of a damning UN report on Burmese security forces’ “calculated policy of terror” against Rohingya Muslims in Arakan State over recent months, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has vowed that “where there is clear evidence of abuses and violations, the government will take necessary measures.”

Calls for an independent commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Arakan State were raised on Monday by the United Nations special adviser on the prevention of genocide, who said the current government-appointed body was not up to the task.

Human Rights Watch on Monday called for Burma to punish army and police commanders if they allowed troops to rape and sexually assault women and girls of the Rohingya Muslim minority.