Fighting was reported again in northern Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township on Thursday, two days after another clash in the region near Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh.
The latest incident occurred at around 11:20am near a border guard post about 2.5km west of the village of Minkhamaung, according to local residents.
“The clash was on a mountain in the forest just beyond the Ngayant Chaung border station. We don’t know who the regime forces were fighting, but the situation here is stable,” a man living in the village told Myanmar Now.
According to another Minkhamaung resident, however, the clash was between the military and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), an armed group based in the area.
“A border guard officer from Ngayant Chaung told me that it was with the RSO,” said the man, who added that the confrontation lasted about 15 minutes.
A teacher in the village said that around 100 students from the local primary school were sent home early due to fears for their safety.
“We could clearly hear the gunshots. There were some pauses between rounds. We could hear that both sides were firing at each other,” the teacher said.
It has been confirmed that fighting that broke out near the village of Yay Nauk Ngar Thar on Tuesday involved the Arakan Army (AA), another armed group active in the area.
Khine Thukha, the group’s information officer, told Myanmar Now that the clash started after regime forces entered AA territory. He added that the situation remained tense, and that a third party was involved in negotiations to settle the dispute.
There were also reports that all mobile internet services, except for those provided by Mytel, a company partly owned by the military, had been cut off in Maungdaw from morning until 7pm on Tuesday.
Local residents say they have seen a recent buildup of military forces in the northern part of the township, where some police outposts are now said to be armed with artillery.
