Junta, AA clash again in northern Maungdaw Twsp

By DMG 26 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
26 August 2022, Maungdaw

The Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) clashed fiercely for hours on Friday near the village of Khamaung Seik in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, said local residents.

The fighting occurred near a border guard police outpost some 100 metres from Khamaung Seik village.

“The clashes broke out at around 2 p.m., and it is still happening,” said a resident of Khamaung Seik village who fled the village following the fighting, speaking to DMG at around 4 p.m. on Friday. “We heard continuous gunfire and three artillery shells.”

Some 300 locals have fled to Yay Nauk Thar village and need food, a Daingnet villager told DMG.

“There are Mro and Daingnet ethnic residents in the village,” he said. “We’ve fled to Yay Nauk Thar, and Mro have fled to Thittonenarkwasone village. As the fighting happened all of a sudden, we had no time to bring belongings from our homes. We fled with only the clothes on our backs. Tonight, we still have food given by Yay Nauk Thar villagers. We don’t know what to do tomorrow.”

When asked by DMG, AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha said he had not yet heard about the fighting in Khamaung Seik, but he noted that clashes have continued for about a week in Maungdaw and Chin State’s Paletwa Township.

“Clashes will continue if the Myanmar military continues to attack us. Clashes will happen if the Myanmar military invades our bases,” he told DMG.

After two years of fighting from late 2018 to November 2020, the Myanmar military and Arakan Army reached an unofficial ceasefire. But the peace pact has appeared on the verge of collapse for weeks amid months of escalating military tensions.