AA vows to retaliate against military over deadly airstrikes on Myanmar-Thai border camp

By DMG 05 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
5 July 2022, Sittwe

The Arakan Army (AA) says it will retaliate for the killing of six of its soldiers in airstrikes by the Myanmar military on its camp near the Myanmar-Thailand border on Monday.

“We are thoroughly investigating the situation in connection with the Myanmar military’s bombing. We will respond as needed to the situation,” U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the ethnic armed group, told DMG.

The AA spokesperson did not, however, reveal how the Arakan Army would respond.

He added that the Myanmar military’s aerial assault, at just past noon on July 4, was aimed at instigating an armed conflict, saying the AA camp was “far away from the battlefield.”

“We are thoroughly investigating the situation. Depending on the actions of the Myanmar military, the fighting could escalate at any time if necessary,” he added.

U Aung Thaung Shwe, a former legislator in the Lower House for Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township, also criticised the military’s attack on the AA camp in Kayin (Karen) State.

“I think the Arakan Army will retaliate against the Myanmar military, either politically or militarily. In the current situation, the Myanmar military is hawkish and sees everyone as guilty,” the ex-MP added.

DMG contacted Maj-General Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for the regime, about Monday’s airstrikes, but he could not be reached.

In addition to killing six AA soldiers, the regime’s aerial assault destroyed a hospital, clinic, sewing factory, and some other buildings at the camp.

Monday’s incident recalled an attack on November 19, 2014, when eight AA cadets were among 23 ethnic fighters killed in a Myanmar military artillery shelling of a Kachin Independence Army (KIA) training school in northern Myanmar.