The Arakan Army (AA) said it overran a junta base in northern Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township on Wednesday, killing 19 regime troops and capturing one
In a statement, the group said that it attacked the base near Milestone 40 on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border early Wednesday morning and had taken full control of it by 9am.
Thet Ko Oo, a junta lance corporal, was wounded and captured and 19 others, including a police lieutenant named Soe Soe Paing, were killed, the statement said.
Military equipment was also seized in the attack, it added.
The AA said it lost several of its own members in the ensuing clash, but did not provide exact casualty figures. It also claimed to have found a number of bodies buried within the base compound.
According to the statement, the assault was carried out to avenge the deaths of several civilians, including a four-year-old child, killed by army shelling in Mrauk-U Township on Sunday.
In recent weeks, the military has used both airstrikes and heavy artillery against AA forces in northern Rakhine and southern Chin states, as hostilities between the two sides continue to escalate.
The AA estimates that junta troops stationed in Maungdaw Township, including those at milestones 34 and 38 of the border and in the villages of Hka Maung Seik and Kyein Chaung, have been firing 300-400 heavy artillery shells every day since the fighting started.
A clash that broke out on Tuesday evening near the village of Ma Nyin Taung in Rathedaung Township reportedly resulted in casualties on both sides.
Fighting was also reported near the village of Myeik Wa in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in the death of 10 junta personnel.
