AA launches assault on junta outposts in Ponnagyun Twsp

By Admin 26 Dec 2023

DMG Newsroom
26 December 2023, Ponnagyun

Fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) is escalating in Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, after the ethnic armed group attacked junta outposts near Letwe Sartaik Village on the Ponnagyun-Rathedaung road on December 25.

The military set up three security checkpoints at a location between Letwe Sartaik and Thazi villages in 2019. Junta soldiers at the checkpoints have been tightening security checks on locals since fighting between the military and AA flared anew on November 13.

“We have heard the sounds of heavy weapons and small arms fire from the military since around 11 p.m. yesterday. The AA reportedly launched an assault on junta camps. An artillery shell fired by the military landed in Letwe Sartaik Village, damaging some homes,” said a local man.

Since last month, hundreds of locals in Letwe Sartaik and Thazi villages have reportedly fled to safer locations in fear.

Junta soldiers from a military camp near Pauktawpyin Village on the Ponnagyun-Rathedaung Township retreated from the camp to join a military outpost near Letwe Sartaik Village.

“The AA attacked a junta outpost near Letwe Sartaik Village because soldiers at the outpost have been conducting security checks on locals since 2019. We don’t know the details about the clash,” said a resident of Letwe Sartaik Village.

The clash came after junta soldiers fired mortar shells into Letwe Sartaik Village, the Three Brotherhood Alliance said in a statement on December 25.

Three homes in Letwe Sartaik Village were destroyed after the military’s Ponnagyun-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 550 fired into the village, the statement added.

Fighting has continued to escalate in Arakan State and has spread to Sittwe, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Ann, Myebon, Kyaukphyu and Ramree townships, with the number of displaced civilians rising daily.

Fighting has displaced nearly 140,000 people in Arakan State amid renewed hostilities, with those uprooted facing food shortages due to junta blockades to roads and waterways across the state.