Arakan State News Summary (November 8-15, 2022)

By DMG 15 Nov 2022

8 November

• The Arakan Refugee Relief Committee (ARRC) issued a statement urging Arakanese people in Malaysia to be cautious when travelling during that country’s upcoming general election, scheduled to be held on November 19.
• A 47-year-old man from Taungup town was reportedly abducted by the Myanmar military.
• A photographer from Sittwe went missing at a junta checkpoint in Kyauktaw on his return from Minbya to the Arakan State capital.
• Seven residents of Ponnagyun Township were arrested by junta troops on November 7, with the detainees being interrogated at the military’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 550, family members told DMG the following day.
• Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) troops clashed in two Ann Township locations, forcing hundreds of villagers from their homes. 

9 November

• Fifty-two people were killed by shelling incidents and landmine blasts in the three months from August to October amid renewed fighting between the military and AA in Arakan State, according to a DMG tally.
• House rents have surged in Sittwe amid steadily rising property prices in the Arakan State capital, according to lessees.
• Residents from more than 20 villages in Minbya Township are facing food and supply shortages as soldiers at a junta checkpoint overlooking an important waterway are known to fire random shots at travellers, according to locals.
• The abbot of a village monastery in northern Maungdaw Township was released, five days after he was detained by the military, according to a source close to the monk. 

10 November

• The Myanmar military carried out airstrikes and fired artillery shells into multiple Ponnagyun Township villages after one of its trucks was attacked by the Arakan Army (AA) at a location between Padetha and Sin Inn Gyi villages, locals said.
• The Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) alleged that the Arakan Army (AA) abducted one of its central committee members earlier in the week.
• Renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army is negatively affecting not only the people of Arakan State, but also hundreds of monkeys that have made Thaylar GiriMawra Patta Mountain, a well-known pilgrimage site in Kyauktaw Township, their home.
• Nine residents were killed and at least 10 homes reduced to ashes in Sin Inn Gyi Village, Ponnagyun Township, according to villagers.
• Some 200 vehicles including passenger buses were pinned down in Ponnagyun Township due to ongoing military tensions between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA), according to locals.
• Two men were killed by an artillery strike in Diparyon Village, Ponnagyun Township, according to local residents. 

11 November

• Seven residents of Ponnagyun Township who were arrested by junta troops on Tuesday night were released at around 11 a.m. on Friday, according to family members.
• At least seven residents including two 7-year-olds were reportedly injured after artillery shells landed and exploded in Shwepyithit Village, Kyauktaw Township.
• The United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) vowed revenge for the Myanmar military regime’s alleged killing of several civilians in Sin Inn Gyi Village, Ponnagyun Township, this week.
• An ethnic Mro woman from Jeitchaung Village, Maungdaw Township, was killed in a landmine blast, according to local villagers.
• A Buddhist monk and two businessmen were arrested by the military in Minbya, according to locals.
• Junta troops detained nine civilians from two Buddhist monasteries in Sittwe’s Danyawaddy Ward during nighttime raids.
• The Arakan State military council ordered the temporary closure of the Arakan Ar Mahn bus gate in Thandwe, from which routes are run to several destinations in Arakan State, according to employees of the bus portal. 

12 November

• Two residents including a preteen boy were wounded by an artillery strike in Kyaungtaung Village, Mrauk-U Township.
• The Saung Oo Festival will be held for the second time at Ngapali Beach in Thandwe Township on November 21 as part of a tourism promotion campaign, according to the Arakan State Directorate of Hotels and Tourism.
• Family members are concerned about the fate of two men who went missing after being interrogated by junta soldiers at the military’s Kyee Kan Pyin security checkpoint in Maungdaw Township as the pair has not been seen or heard from in a week.
• Two junta fighter jets unleashed rounds of strafing fire near Yan Aung Pyin Village in northern Maungdaw Township, according to local residents.
• Junta soldiers detained four residents in Tankhoe Village, Ponnagyun Township, local sources close to the matter told DMG.
• A combined squad of soldiers and police arrested U Zaw Naing Win, 43, a resident of Tayartheesu Ward in Sittwe.
• The military tortured U Shwe Thee, 56, U Aung Win Thein, and U Tun Hla Aye, 49, from Kywhtoe Village in Ponnagyun Township, and took the trio to Ponnagyun, locals said. 

13 November

• At least 12 civilians were killed and 16 others were injured by artillery strikes, gunfire and a landmine encounter blamed on Myanmar’s military regime over the three-day period from November 10-12 in Arakan State.
• Myanmar’s military regime has been using aerial drones to launch attacks in its renewed conflict with the Arakan Army (AA) in Arakan State, at times using the technology to target civilians, according to local residents.
• Local people recently displaced by fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army troops in Ponnagyun Township are in need of emergency relief supplies.
• The commander of Ngapali-based military’s Light Infantry Battalion No. 566 warned 50 out of 70 ward and village administrators in Thandwe Township not to have ties to the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA). 

14 November

• Fierce fighting broke out between the military and Arakan Army (AA) on the hills about a mile north of Yanaungpyin Village, Maungdaw Township, according to local residents.
• A middle school principal in Ann Township was abducted by suspected junta soldiers, according to local residents.
• U Tun Kywl, a local businessman in Maei town, was abducted by the military at Mee Chaung Htoe security checkpoint in Taungup, according to sources close to the detainee.
• The owners of betel nut farms in Minbya and Mrauk-U townships are having a hard time as the military has blocked off land and waterways in the area indefinitely. 

15 November

• Students and minors have been among those recently arrested by the Myanmar military on suspicion amid renewed fighting in Arakan State, said Ko Oo Than Naing, the information officer of the Arakan Students’ Union.
• The Arakan Army attacked junta soldiers deployed at a railway station east of Kuntaung Village, Ponnagyun Township, according to locals.
• The Arakan Army ambushed a junta vehicle with landmines northeast of Ngat Pyaw Chaung Village in Buthidaung Township.
• Three elderly male residents of Kyaw Zan Village, Ponnagyun Township, who went missing while fleeing a junta raid on their village on November 12 have not yet been found, according to relatives.
• Nine village administrators from several villages in Ponnagyun Township tendered resignation letters to the township administrator.