Arakan Army assaults Myanmar military in another southern Rakhine State town

Clashes intensified this week in southern Rakhine State as the Arakan Army advanced on junta positions in an attempt to seize the town of Kyeintali, Gwa Township, local sources said. Fighting broke out in Gwa Township after members of the AA—the most powerful ethnic armed organisation in Rakhine State—attacked a junta base on a hill just outside the township’s urban centre. According to a local civilian man, the AA’s fighters had already captured the junta’s hill base, removing the last obstacle blocking their access to Kyeintali, and had begun to enter the town. Another local civilian unable to leave Kyeintali said that junta aircraft attacked the town on Monday. “They started firing around 10am yesterday and continued through the night,” he told Myanmar Now on Tuesday at around 11am. “They flew in a circle over ward 3, then the hospital, then the main intersection and the monastery near the road to Gwa. The aircraft dropped bombs throughout the town for an hour starting at around 5:30pm,” he added. “A junta navy ship at the mouth of Kyeintali River also fired on the town using artillery this morning. There was also fighting in the town, which just stopped a moment ago.” Civilians in Gwa, a town located some 20 miles south of Kyeintali, have started fleeing their homes for safety after hearing the sounds of the clashes, according to Gwa residents. “The artillery fire in Kyeintali was audible, which prompted people to flee,” one resident said. The people displaced from Gwa have been seeking refuge in the nearby Ayeyarwady Region, according to messages on a social media feed managed by Capt. Zin Yaw, a former officer in the Myanmar military who defected to join the anti-coup Civil Disobedience Movement. Fighting is also ongoing in Thandwe Township, where AA fighters have continued to attack the junta’s Maung Shwe Lay naval base some 30 miles north of Kyeintali. In July, nearly all remaining junta outposts in Thandwe Township—including the township’s airport, the beach town of Ngapali, and the beachfront hotel zone—fell under AA control. Satellite aerial view of Kyeintali Town, the site of ongoing battles between the AA and military forces (Myanmar Now) Having lost control of most of Thandwe Township, the military council gave an order on July 19 banning fishing vessels from navigating the waters off the coast near Kyeintali for an indefinite period. The ban was part of the military’s efforts to prevent clashes from spreading southwards to Kyeintali and Gwa, the local outlet Narinjara News claimed, citing local sources. The AA has also been fighting for control of Maungdaw Township on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in northern Rakhine State. However, according to a local resident, the sounds of artillery and gunfire in the township have quieted in the township since Monday. “We haven’t heard much news from the town since nearly all residents have left. However, the sound of weapons has stopped. Some people I know are still trapped in Myo Thu Gyi and Ka Nyin Tan wards,” the resident added. Rohingya civilians fleeing clashes in Maungdaw were massacred last week near the east bank of the Naf River, which forms part of Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh. An AA spokesperson denied accusations from the Myanmar military and human rights advocates that the group was responsible for the slaughter.The military has stoked interethnic tensions between the Rakhine State’s Buddhist ethnic majority—which makes up most of the AA’s membership—and the Rohingya ethnic minority, forcibly recruiting refugees and displaced Rohingya men to fight in junta-trained units. In addition to taking control of Paletwa Township in Chin State, the AA has now captured nine of Rakhine State’s seventeen townships from regime forces: Myebon, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, and Ramree (Yanbye).

Arakan Army assaults Myanmar military in another southern Rakhine State town

As the Myanmar air force and navy fought off attacks by the Rakhine ethnic armed group, civilians fearing that the violence would spread fled their homes in Gwa Township, around 20 miles from where the battles occurred

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