Child among five civilians injured by shelling near Bangladesh-Myanmar border

Five locals, including a 13-year-old girl, were injured by the explosion of a junta heavy artillery shell in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State on Sunday. According to a local rescue worker, an artillery shell fired from the junta’s Border Guard Police (BGP) Battalion 5 outpost landed outside the urban centre at around 1pm, injuring two men, two women, and one girl. “The two men are severely injured. The others were hit by shrapnel on the head, hands, or abdomen,” the rescue worker said. The injured people have been identified as Waso Moe, 13; two adult women named Ma Than Sein, 42, and Nyo Ma, 73; and two adult men named Htun Aung, 47, and Kyaw Ban Aung, 66. According to another Maungdaw Township resident, the Arakan Army (AA)—Rakhine State’s largest and most powerful ethnic armed organisation—is continuing to attack army outposts near Maungdaw, including the BGP Battalion 5 base. The AA has been fighting against the Myanmar military for full territorial control of Rakhine State since hostilities resumed between them in November, ending a ceasefire that had been in effect for nearly a year. “Fierce battles are occurring daily in Maungdaw, but so far the fighting has not spread downtown,” the resident said. Junta forces have reportedly prevented most civilian residents from fleeing Maungdaw, and food supplies in the town have become scarce, according to a local source who had left the town. “Rakhine residents are having difficulty buying rice and oil. When they go out to purchase these items, they can only buy the amount rationed by the authorities,” the source said, citing first-hand accounts of people escaping from Maungdaw. “The military council even takes photos of them as if they suspect them of distributing supplies to the public.” According to the Maungdaw Township resident who stayed, there are Muslim armed groups operating inside the town alongside the junta forces. It is unclear to which armed groups the Muslim fighters belong. The AA has alleged that since its offensive operation against the military began in the state last November, Rohingya men have received military training from the junta and are collaborating with junta forces. The Myanmar military is known to have resorted to forcible recruitment of Rohingya and Muslim fighters from camps for refugees and internally displaced persons in what is widely understood as an intentional move to stoke tensions between Rakhine State’s religious minorities and the Rakhine Buddhist majority that makes up most of the AA’s membership. According to a new investigation of the forcible recruitment released by the advocacy organisation Fortify Rights last Friday, the junta has increasingly resorted to taking forced recruits from Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh to Myanmar, coercing them to join the military. The investigation concluded that these actions are unlawful and constitute a form of human trafficking. “The Bangladesh authorities need to protect Rohingya refugees from forced conscription in the camps,” the Fortify Rights report said, adding, “The Myanmar junta’s illegal forced-conscription campaign in Rakhine State and elsewhere in the country must end and Rohingya armed groups operating in Bangladesh should prevent the abduction of Rohingya refugees.” In addition to assaulting junta positions in Maungdaw, AA forces are also currently launching attacks on military and police bases in Rakhine State’s Ann and Thandwe townships. Since the AA launched its first attacks in the township in February, the military has lost all but a few of its outposts in and near Maungdaw. If the township falls to the AA, the ethnic armed organisation will effectively control all of Myanmar’s 168-mile border with Bangladesh. The AA now controls nine of Rakhine State’s 17 townships—namely Kyauktaw, Myebon, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Ramree (Yanbye), Rathedaung, and Buthidaung—as well as the neighbouring Paletwa Township in Chin State.

Child among five civilians injured by shelling near Bangladesh-Myanmar border

Clashes are ongoing in Maungdaw Township between junta forces and the Arakan Army (AA), which will control all of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border if it captures the township

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