Arakan State News Summary (September 23-30, 2022)

By DMG 30 Sep 2022

23 September

• A Muslim man and woman were injured by a junta artillery strike in Thabeik Taung (North) Village, Buthidaung Township.
• Some houses in Thabeik Taung Village, Buthidaung Township, were torched at around 9 p.m. after villagers fled their homes following shelling from a local border guard police battalion earlier in the day.
• Two local men were taken from their homes in Taungup Township by the Myanmar military, according to family members of the detainees.
• Myanmar recorded 10 coronavirus-related deaths from September 1 to 23, according to the junta-controlled Ministry of Health.
• Kyaw Thura, a resident of Taungup who was detained by the Myanmar military, was charged under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, family members said.
• A junta soldier was stabbed to death near Gant Gaw Taw Pagoda in Kyaukphyu Township at about 8 a.m. 

24 September

• A guesthouse and three homes in Kyauktaw were damaged by an artillery shell at around 2 a.m., according to locals.
• A 7-year-old boy from Nagara Village in Kyauktaw Township was killed in a shelling at around 11 p.m.
• The Myanmar military detained two residents of Na Ram Village in Minbya Township and was reportedly hunting for another villager who went into hiding.
• Six residents of Thabeik Taung Village in Buthidaung Township were detained by Myanmar military personnel, and family members are concerned about the fate of the detainees, who have since been held incommunicado.
• Myanmar’s military regime has barred local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) from travelling to multiple townships in Arakan State following the renewed fighting between junta troops and the Arakan Army over recent weeks.
• A 7-year-old Muslim boy from Hnget Thay Village was pronounced dead at Buthidaung Hospital after he was injured by a shelling on September 23. 

25 September

• The Myanmar military temporarily blocked parts of the Sittwe-Yangon road, with passenger buses stuck for hours at a checkpoint in Kyauktaw.
• Some homes were damaged after an artillery shell landed and exploded near Myoma Market in Minbya’s Ale Zay Ward at about 1 p.m., according to locals.
• The Myanmar military reportedly detained Ko Than Tun, chairman of Nang Yeik Garuna Oxygen Association and his elder brother Ko Kyaw Than Naing from Mrauk-U town.
• The Myanmar military reportedly arrested two residents of Asoeya Ward in Kyaukphyu town. 

26 September

• Three people including two children were injured when a monastery was hit by a junta rocket in Minbya Township.
• Thirteen new Covid-19 variant cases were reported between September 20 and 26 in Arakan State after several months of no recorded cases in the state, according to a statement released by the junta-controlled Ministry of Health.
• Myanmar’s military regime recently ordered all shops and vendors to close by 10 p.m. in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, with shop owners and street vendors saying the order negatively affects their livelihoods.
• A doctor from Myebon Township who was detained by the military regime remained in military custody almost a week later, with his whereabouts still unknown, according to family members and sources close to Dr. Win Naing Soe.
• A total of 567 civil society organisations sent an open letter urging the country’s ethnic armed groups not to attend the peace talks being spearheaded by the military junta, with the signatories describing the dialogue as a sham “intended as a way to distract and exit from their own political, military, and economic crisis.” 

27 September

• A verdict in the case of Ko Kyaw Zan Wai aka Ko Yin Hsot, a man from Mrauk-U who was arrested on suspicion of having ties to the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) and National Unity Government (NUG), will be delivered within six months, the judge said during a court hearing.
• Four civilians in a rural village of Minbya Township were injured and a home in another village was damaged by an artillery shell reportedly fired by the Myanmar military.
• The military detained U Tin Myo Zaw, an assistant township education officer in Minbya, at around 1 a.m.
• The Arakan Army captured a military camp at the foot of the Mayu mountain range in Rathedaung Township. 

28 September

• Six houses in Mingan Ward of the Arakan State capital Sittwe were forced to be set 10 feet back by the Myanmar military’s Light Infantry Battalion No. 354, which claimed that the houses were encroaching into the battalion’s territory.
• Four local men including an officer from the Department of Fisheries in Kyaukphyu Township were arrested this week by the Myanmar military and are facing criminal charges, according to residents.
• The total number of new internally displaced people (IDPs) since August in Arakan State is nearing 9,000, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Myanmar said in a statement.
• The Myanmar military ordered the removal of some 70 houses from Jaing Thar Village in Thandwe Township, saying the village was built on military-owned land.
• Three military jet fighters bombed an Arakan Army camp along the Letpan mountain range in Maungdaw Township, hitting two of the AA’s jails and killing some junta soldiers and Border Guard Force (BGF) members who were detained as prisoners of war, the ethnic armed group said.
• The junta-controlled Ministry of Health announced that some applications of those who were late to apply for admission to the University of Medicine will be reselected and called for a second time.
• The number of junta soldiers who have joined the Arakan People’s Authority and the Arakan Army (AA), along with the tally of captured military council deserters, has reached more than 150, the ethnic armed organisation said in a statement. 

29 September

• At least six civilians have been killed and 25 others wounded in shellings amid renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Arakan State since August.
• The Arakan Army (AA) ambushed a junta food convoy at the border of Ponnagyun and Kyauktaw townships.
• A junta-controlled court sentenced Myanmar’s ousted democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her Australian economic advisor Sean Turnell to three years in prison for violating the Official Secrets Act, according to court sources.
• The Arakan National Party (ANP) condemned the Myanmar military for recent artillery attacks that have resulted in civilian casualties and damage to several houses in Arakan State.
• Two girls were injured after an artillery shell fell and exploded in Moung Swel Village, part of Mrauk-U Township, at about 2 p.m., according to locals.
• At least 12 junta soldiers were reportedly killed in clashes with the Arakan Army in Ponnagyun, Mrauk-U and Rathedaung townships on September 29 alone.
• An 18-year-old man from Mrauk-U Township who lost both legs in a landmine blast reportedly succumbed to his injuries.
• Around a dozen civilians including some children from Moung Swel Village in Mrauk-U Township were abducted by the Myanmar military at around 5 p.m. 

30 September

• Myanmar’s military regime has been restricting the supply of medicines from Yangon to Arakan State, according to pharmaceutical companies and representatives, and healthcare workers.
• More than 800 Muslims have been displaced by junta artillery strikes that followed fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) in Buthidaung Township since September 23.
• The reproduction of used paper into raw tissue is taking place in the Mingan Ward of the Arakan State capital Sittwe.
• Arakan Army snipers shot dead five junta soldiers and injured one other from a military camp near Saukkhat Village in Rathedaung Township while they were outside the camp to fetch water.