AA targets BGF outpost in Buthidaung Twsp

By Admin 19 Nov 2023

DMG Newsroom
19 November 2023, Buthidaung

Fierce fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) is intensifying after the ethnic armed group continued its offensive on a Border Guard Force (BGF) outpost near Kahteela Village, part of Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township, on Saturday morning, according to locals.

The AA attacked the BGF outpost at around 8 a.m. on November 18, and fierce clashes were reported thereafter as the military fired mortar shells. Fighting between the military and AA continued on November 19, and the military subsequently attacked with helicopter gunships, locals said.

“A Myanmar junta helicopter fired about 30 gunshots this morning. We are hiding in the jungle for fear of being attacked. The fighting is intensifying,” said a local man from Layeainsu Village.

About 60 local people from Kahteela and Layeainsu Village were displaced by the fighting and have fled to safer locations.

Around 1,000 local residents from Kahteela Village have reportedly fled to nearby villages since November 16 following the AA’s attack on the BGF outpost.

Locals in Kahteela Village are worried that their homes will be damaged by the junta’s airstrikes and shelling into the residential area.

“The military fired multiple mortar shells last night. The artillery shells may fall in the village because the fighting erupts near the village,” said a resident of Kahteela Village.

The AA attacked the Donenyo BGF outpost in Maungdaw Township at about 10 a.m. on November 16 and occupied the BGF outpost at around 1 p.m. on November 17, the ethnic armed group said in a statement.

The AA has attacked and occupied BGF outposts, police stations and military camps following the resumption of hostilities between the military and the ethnic armed group in Arakan State on November 13.