Arakan Army warns junta soldiers to surrender ASAP

By Admin 13 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
13 April 2024, Sittwe

The Arakan Army (AA) said in a statement that the ethnic armed group will launch offensive attacks on all junta bases, military camps and border guard force police outposts in Arakan State, warning junta soldiers and police to surrender as soon as possible.

“The AA once again warned the junta soldiers to surrender as soon as possible,” the statement said.

The warning followed after the AA reportedly seized the entire Kyeinchaung border guard police outpost, where about 650 junta soldiers and their families were stationed in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, in a pre-dawn raid on Friday.

The AA is attacking the military’s Ann-based Western Command headquarters, the Buthidaung-based 15th Military Operations Command and 5th Military Operations Command in Taungup, which refuse to surrender, the statement reads.

The AA has repeatedly warned junta soldiers to surrender as soon as possible if they want to be reunited with their families rather than dying on the battlefield.

The AA has so far seized eight townships in Arakan State as well as Paletwa Township in neighbouring Chin State. Thousands of junta soldiers and their relatives have surrendered to the AA, the ethnic armed group said in a statement in the last week of March.

Clashes are reported on a daily basis as the AA is currently launching offensive assaults on junta camps in Ann, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships.

“There are many military camps in Buthidaung, so I think it will take a long time to finish the fighting,” said a local woman in Buthidaung.

Fighting has been raging in Arakan State for nearly five months, with the AA seizing large swaths of Rathedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Pauktaw, Myebon and Ramree townships, as well as Paletwa Township.