At least 10 civilians killed as Myanmar’s military lashes out over Arakan Army offensive

Myanmar’s military is carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilians as it continues to face intense pressure from an ongoing Arakan Army (AA) offensive, the ethnic Rakhine armed group said on Monday. In a statement, the AA claimed that junta troops torched an entire village near the Rakhine State capital Sittwe on Monday, killing two and injuring several others, while airstrikes in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township killed four more on the same day. At least four more casualties were also reported in Mrauk-U and Buthidaung townships by other sources. According to the AA statement, Taw Kan, a village located less than six miles north of Sittwe, was completely destroyed by fires set by a column of around 50 regime soldiers. The village had been previously attacked late last year. Houses destroyed by a junta arson attack on the village of Taw Kan in late December 2023 (Western News) In Paletwa, which the AA captured on Sunday after two months of fighting, aerial assaults killed a five-year-old child and three men and critically injured two others, the group said. Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify this information. The attacks come as the AA, which has been waging an offensive against the military in western Myanmar since mid-November, said it had seized control of three more junta outposts in northern Rakhine since late last week. “Today, the Arakan Army successfully captured artillery camp 377 in Kyauktaw, as well as the Re Soe Chaung tactical outpost in Rathedaung,” the group said in Monday’s statement, adding that another camp near Mrauk-U fell to its forces last Friday. Around 20 junta troops who had fled the outpost in Rathedaung were later captured with their weapons in neighbouring Maungdaw Township, the statement added. Junta troops based in Mrauk-U reportedly carried out arson attacks in the village of Baung Dwat in response to the capture of their outpost. In Kyauktaw, sources reported that shelling by troops stationed at the famous Mahamuni pagoda injured a 35-year-old man and damaged several houses, while farther south in Minbya Township, junta artillery fire also seriously injured a Rohingya child. Video and photos shared on social media on Tuesday showed residents of Minbya fleeing after military fighter jets reportedly dropped five 500-lb bombs on the town amid fierce clashes for control of three military outposts. “There’s bombing there every day now, but there’s no phone connection, so we can’t confirm everything we hear,” a woman living in Kyauktaw told Myanmar Now. The woman, whose father lives in Minbya, said that she has not been able to reach him since Monday. “My dad told me he could see fireballs flying over people’s houses,” she said, recalling their last conversation before the phone lines went dead. She added that she has also been unable to call Sittwe since Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, there are also unconfirmed reports that the AA has captured the three outposts in Minbya that it has been fighting for. “They seized the bases of Infantry Battalions 379, 380, and 541 just this afternoon,” said a source who spoke to Myanmar Now late Tuesday, adding that the town’s largest base remains under junta control. As of Tuesday, the AA claims that it has seized more than 140 military outposts in northern Rakhine and southern Chin states.

At least 10 civilians killed as Myanmar’s military lashes out over Arakan Army offensive

The AA claims the junta is stepping up its attacks on civilians as it loses its grip over northern Rakhine and southern Chin states

Subscribe for full access

Sent to die: Myanmar’s conscripts caught between a junta’s war and a nation’s collapse

Magway emerges as key front in junta’s strategy to claw back control of western Myanmar

Beyond the iron bars: Into a broader world of confinement

Burned, beaten, and hunted: Myanmar worker survives alleged torture in Thailand

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

NUG says four fighters killed by landmines at former PLA base in Mandalay Region

Myanmar resistance forces destroy junta helicopter in Magway Region

Sent to die: Myanmar’s conscripts caught between a junta’s war and a nation’s collapse

Myanmar faces toughest financial sanctions as progress on money laundering stalls