Myanmar junta bombs Thandwe, tightens grip on Sittwe, as Arakan Army advances

Myanmar’s military carried out airstrikes on the Rakhine State town of Thandwe on Monday as it tightened its control over the state’s capital amid recent dramatic gains by the Arakan Army (AA). The aerial assaults on Thandwe, which has been under AA control since September, killed one man and injured six others in the town and a nearby village, according to Arakan Princess, an AA-affiliated media outlet. Junta warplanes dropped several bombs on Thandwe and Tha Mote Chaung, a village just east of the town, at around 3pm Monday, the outlet said. Phoe Kyaw, a 40-year-old man from Thandwe’s Ward 4, was killed and another man and two women were injured in the attacks on the town. Three others—two women and a man—were injured in Tha Mote Chaung. Life in Thandwe has reportedly been mostly stable since it was captured by the AA in early September, with most markets and shops reopening and some residents returning. “We heard that our town has returned to normal, except on days when it has been hit by airstrikes,” a displaced woman from Thandwe told Myanmar Now. On September 27, the regime dropped multiple bombs on Thandwe, killing 14 displaced people sheltering at its town hall and injuring at least 25 others. The town’s general hospital has also been damaged by air raids carried out by the junta. The AA has taken control of 13 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships since launching a statewide offensive in November of last year. Last week, in the latest blow to the regime, it seized the Western Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters in Ann Township. Currently, the junta controls only the capital Sittwe, the major port town of Kyaukphyu, and Manaung on Cheduba Island, while the AA is launching attacks to seize Gwa, in the far south of the state near Ayeyarwady Region. According to sources in Sittwe, the regime has tightened security there since losing control of Western RMC headquarters last Friday. “They have arrested at least 30 displaced people, including teenagers, from 10 monasteries,” said a man who has been sheltering at a monastery in Sittwe. Since the middle of the year, thousands of people have fled villages around Sittwe as the regime has carried out military operations aimed at securing its hold over the capital. Many are currently living in the town’s monasteries. Meanwhile, many others have fled Sittwe amid concerns that it is just a matter of time before it becomes a target of the AA’s bid for full control of the state. Roughly a quarter of the town’s population is still believed to be trapped inside, unable to flee due to junta-imposed restrictions on overland travel. “We have nowhere to go. We couldn’t afford air tickets to Yangon. We’re just hoping for a safe way out when fighting erupts,” said a man from Sittwe.

Myanmar junta bombs Thandwe, tightens grip on Sittwe, as Arakan Army advances

As AA-held Thandwe suffers more civilian casualties, the regime is reportedly rounding up displaced residents of Sittwe to strengthen its hold over the Rakhine State capital

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