Bangladesh has rejected a claim by Myanmar that it had repatriated the first five among some 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled to the neighbouring country to escape military led violence against the minority group.

Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan today said, the family had never reached Bangladeshi territory and Myanmar's claim that the family had been repatriated was false. Bangladesh's Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Abul Kalam also said, the Rohingya family involved had never crossed the border.

Earlier on Saturday, a Myanmar government statement said that five members of a family had returned to western Rakhine state from the border area. It said authorities determined whether they had lived in Myanmar and provided them with a national verification card.

Bangladesh has given Myanmar a list of more than 8,000 refugees to begin the repatriations, but there have been delays due to a complicated verification process.The United Nations and the United States have described the army crackdown as ethnic cleansing.