AA attack halts junta reinforcements bound for Pauktaw battlefield

By Admin 22 Dec 2023

DMG Newsroom
22 December 2023, Pauktaw

The Arakan Army (AA) has cut off a military attempt to send reinforcements to Arakan State’s Pauktaw, where fighting has been ongoing for one month, the Three Brotherhood Alliance said in a statement on December 21, the 56th day of its “Operation 1027”.

The regime has been trying to transport troops and weapons to the Pauktaw battlefield for about a week. The Three Brotherhood Alliance said the regime sent reinforcements from Sittwe on three warships yesterday, but was turned back when AA fighters hit one of the warships, inflicting some casualties.

A clash broke out between the AA and remnants of the regime forces inside Pauktaw yesterday, and junta soldiers torched some homes in Panthee Ward and Ward-3, the statement said.

Regime forces intentionally set fire to homes in Tawkan Village, Sittwe Township, at about 9 a.m. on December 21, 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 and Ramree townships.

A junta base near Thayettaw Village in Ramree Township fired at least 30 mortar shells deliberately on the morning of December 21. In the evening, a Myanmar Navy vessel fired multiple mortar shells into downtown wards in Ramree and nearby villages, the statement said.

Regime forces stationed at Kazukaing camp reportedly fired mortar shells and conducted drone attacks into two villages in Ann Township, where the military’s Western Command headquarters is based. 

DMG phoned junta spokesman Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun and Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura seeking comment on the matter, but they could not be reached.