AA steps up assault on military camps in Maungdaw Twsp

By Admin 19 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
19 April 2024, Maungdaw

Fighting between the military and Arakkha Army (AA) is escalating in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, as the ethnic armed group has stepped up offensive attacks on junta bases, military camps and border guard police outposts in the area.

The AA began attacking two BGF outposts on the Buthidaung-Maungdaw road on April 18, with the military responding to the AA’s offensive manoeuvres with heavy weapons including airstrikes, a reliable source told DMG.

“A junta jet fighter dropped bombs on the scene of fighting and mortar shells fell in nearby villages yesterday. The fighting seems to be fierce,” the source added.

The AA launched an assault on a BGF outpost near Ywetnyotaung Village close to the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in Maungdaw Township, on the morning of April 17.

“Clashes seem to be intensifying in the mornings and evenings. The junta carries out bombing raids in the mornings and evenings,” said a local resident in Maungdaw.

Local people from nearby villages are worried about their safety and are reportedly fleeing to safer locations.

“If the AA is able to seize military camps and BGF outposts along the Maungdaw-Buthidaung road, it will be a blow to the junta militarily and economically, paving the way for the ethnic armed group to control the road to the border. This is the reason why the regime is defending Maungdaw and Buthidaung from being seized,” said a political analyst.

The AA seized the Kyeinchaung border guard police outpost, where about 650 junta soldiers and their families were stationed in northern Maungdaw Township, in a pre-dawn raid on April 12.
The AA has repeatedly warned junta soldiers to surrender as soon as possible if they want to be reunited with their families rather than dying on the battlefield.

In his message marking the 15th anniversary of the founding of the AA on April 10, AA chief Twan Mrat Naing urged residents in Arakan State to brace for the decisive battle in the state.

Fighting has been raging in Arakan State for nearly five months, with the AA seizing large swaths of Rathedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Pauktaw, Myebon and Ramree townships, as well as Paletwa Township in neighbouring Chin State.