Eighteen clashes recorded over two weeks in Arakan State

By Admin 22 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
22 August 2024, Sittwe

There were 18 clashes between Myanmar’s military regime and the Arakkha Army (AA) in the two weeks from July 31 to August 13 in Arakan State, with 19 civilians killed during that period, Burma News International (BNI) reported on Thursday.

Of the 11 regions and states where hostilities took place over the past two months, Arakan State saw the largest number of clashes. The 19 civilian fatalities were the result of junta attacks on civilian populations, according to the BNI report.

Fighting has been raging of late in Maungdaw, Thandwe and Gwa townships as the AA attempts to seize full control of those townships.

Politician U Tun Tun Oo from Ramree Township said: “Fighting has been raging in Thandwe. The regime only has control over a few places [in Thandwe]. As the AA has seized Kyeintali Town, it will soon attack Gwa Town.”

Over the past two weeks in Arakan State, more than 10,000 civilians were displaced by the fighting. As the war zone continues to expand, people caught up in the conflict have fewer and fewer places to flee to, noted the BNI report.

Anxieties are running high among civilian populations in Arakan State as the regime conducts indiscriminate air raids and artillery attacks across the country amid a string of consequential military defeats, said the report.

One human rights activist from Arakan State said: “People in Gwa Township can’t flee due to the junta’s blockade. They live in fear in the conflict zone.”

Since launching its offensive in November of last year, the AA has seized nine townships in Arakan State as well as Paletwa Township in neighbouring Chin State.