Arakan Army accuses ARSA of killing 10 locals in Maungdaw Twsp

By Admin 29 Sep 2025

DMG Newsroom

29 September 2025, Maungdaw

The Arakan Army (AA) has claimed that around 10 villagers from Tamanthar and Donenyo villages in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, were abducted and killed by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a Muslim armed group.
 
An AA statement on September 27 said that ARSA had committed heinous and inhuman acts of violence by capturing and killing some 10 villagers.
 
Five of the villagers — U Maung Maung Hlaing, U Maung Aye Hlaing, Daw Aye Sandar New, U Maung Kyan Thein and U Maung Soe Hlaing from Tamanthar Village — were reportedly killed by ARSA in early September.
 
U Maung Maung Hlaing, U Maung Aye Hlaing, and Daw Aye Sandar Nwe from Tamanthar Village went to Innchaung Village on the Bangladesh border to sell goods in early August. When the three did not return, U Maung Kyan Thein and U Maung Soe Hlaing from Tamanthar Village went looking for them on September 9, but all five are now considered dead, according to a local source.
 
The AA statement said that since September 16, ARSA has been continuously infiltrating Arakan Army camps in northern Maungdaw Township, harassing them from the Bangladesh side, planning ambushes, conducting drone reconnaissance, and blocking some areas where reinforcements were arriving, indicating that they intend to capture the camps.
 
“The security situation in Arakan State remains worrisome as Bangladeshi authorities have given unilateral permission to Muslim terrorists, including ARSA,” said a source in Taungpyo Town.
 
The AA statement said that ARSA is taking advantage of the difficult transportation and ongoing fighting in three other areas, including Sittwe and Kyaukphyu, to launch coordinated attacks on Arakan Army border security posts from inside Bangladesh in collaboration with Myanmar’s military regime.
 
The statement also said that the military regime continues to provide weapons and ammunition to ARSA and the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation.
 
According to the statement, 12 clashes between ARSA and the Arakan Army occurred between September 16 and 27 at six locations, including Point 601 between border posts 56 and 57, in northern Maungdaw Township.
 
The Arakan Army said the fighting is being supported by Bangladeshi authorities.
 
“We have had accurate information since the last few days. There is fighting on the border because the Muslim militants have been told to fight for the northern areas of the Taungpyo Town,” AA chief Maj-Gen Twan Mrat Naing said in an interview with The Irrawaddy.
 
During the clashes, the Arakan Army reportedly seized some bodies of ARSA members, weapons, and military equipment.
 
Muslim armed groups have been entering Maungdaw Township through the Naf River and Mayu mountain range, attacking Arakan Army camps, and arresting and killing locals.
 
A local man in Maungdaw said, “I used to go to northern Maungdaw, but now I don’t dare to go. Even traders have stopped working. If you meet ARSA, whether in a group or a small group, you are almost certain to be killed. Now I hear about people being killed. Some people from that area have fled because they don’t dare to stay there.”
 
The Arakan Army has claimed that ARSA has carried out at least three killings of Arakanese and other ethnic groups living along the Bangladesh-Arakan border in recent days.
 
As ARSA continues to abduct, torture, and kill locals, residents in northern Maungdaw have been forced to stop trading goods, abandon jobs and flee their homes.