Maungdaw remains fiercely contested battleground

By Admin 09 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
9 August 2024, Maungdaw

Fighting between the military and Arakkha Army (AA) has been raging in Maungdaw, Arakan State, in recent days, with junta soldiers and armed Muslim militiamen using civilians as human shields, locals said.

Hostilities have occurred in and around Maungdaw for months as the AA seeks to take control of the border town, and the ethnic armed group said in a statement on Friday that junta soldiers and armed Muslim militiamen have locked up villagers in Muslim villages to use as human shields.

Residents of Bo Hmue Village are being held as human shields by junta soldiers, and some are suffering from lack of food and water, the AA said. About 300 people from that village were rescued by the AA on August 8, the ethnic armed group said with the release of a video clip.

Fierce clashes were reported near the Border Guard Force (BGF) Battalion No. 5 in Maungdaw’s Myothugyi Ward and Maungni Village on August 9, with the regime responding to AA attacks with an aerial assault and artillery fire, said a DMG source.

“This is the fiercest clash between the military and AA in Maungdaw. A junta jet fighter dropped multiple bombs on Maungdaw and Myanmar Navy vessels fired mortar shells into the border town. Junta soldiers and armed Muslim militiamen dressed in civilian clothes and used the people as human shields to attack the AA,” the source added.

Around 500 junta soldiers who retreated from BGF Battalion No. 5 to Maungdaw on July 30 are reportedly now involved in the regime’s defence of the town.

Civilian casualties continue to rise in Maungdaw due to the regime’s artillery attacks, with 13 locals killed and 26 others injured by junta shellings since July, according to a DMG tally.

Locals are worried about their safety due to the junta artillery strikes and drone attacks on some residential areas in Maungdaw on August 9.

“We feel insecure in downtown Maungdaw. We have no place to flee. We are concerned for our safety due to the junta shelling and drone attacks. We are in trouble,” said a local resident.

The AA said it continues to attempt to rescue thousands of Arakanese, Muslims, Hindu and ethnic people trapped by the fighting in Maungdaw.

“Muslim armed groups carry guns in downtown Maungdaw. The AA is trying to evacuate the residents trapped by fighting. As the fighting raged, residents hid in their homes. No one dares go outside,” said another Maungdaw resident.

On August 5, video that went viral on social media purported to show the bodies of dozens of dead Muslims in Maungdaw, where junta troops and the AA are engaged in ongoing and often fierce fighting. It has been alleged that Muslims fleeing from Maungdaw Town were attempting to cross the Naf River to Bangladesh when the AA fired on them with guns and drones, killing potentially hundreds of Muslims.

The AA released a statement on Wednesday denying responsibility for the killings. “Those deaths did not happen in territory controlled by us, and we have nothing to do with it,” said the statement. The AA said it believes the slain were killed either by junta airstrikes or shelling, or drowning. The AA statement said its troops are well-versed in the code of conduct, rules of engagement, human rights and humanitarian laws.

Its statement said the ethnic armed group lamented the deaths, and is investigating the details. It will make the truth known to the public once it finds out, the AA statement said.

Due to the fighting, there is no flow of goods and a shortage of food, and locals are facing food shortages and looting. Residents said that two homes owned by Arakanese people and one home belonging to a Hindu family from Maungdaw’s Ward-1 were robbed by a group of masked men on August 5.

As the battle for Maungdaw intensifies, the AA again on August 7 advised those trapped to do what they can to make their way to areas under the ethnic armed group’s control, where they can provide safety.