MYANMAR – Nineteen Myanmar junta police officers were reportedly killed on Wednesday when the Arakan Army (AA) seized an outpost in Maungdaw Township near the Bangladesh border in northern Rakhine State. The AA said in a statement that the seizure was in response to the shelling of civilians in Mrauk-U Township on Sunday according to the news center The Irrawaddy.
On Sunday, three battalions based in the township and other regime forces bombed seven villages.
Three Rakhine civilians, Mg Myat Thu, five, U Hlat Thein, 38, and Daw Aye Nu Yin, 69, were killed and nine others wounded. The AA said it also seized an army border base on Wednesday after a fierce clash. It submitted a photo of the dead police officers, claiming that 19 personnel were killed, including Captain Soe Soe Paing, and a sergeant was seriously wounded. The AA said its troops suffered some casualties.
The group said it found many buried bodies of soldiers at the army base who were killed during recent fighting. Since August 2 fighting has occurred in the area and neighboring Paletwa Township, Chin State, after the AA attacks along the border.
Around six army border bases have been firing numerous shells after being attacked by the AA. Fighter jets and helicopters have also been deployed. On Wednesday, 10 regime soldiers were reportedly killed by the AA near Myeik Wa village in Paletwa Township, the armed group claimed. The junta faces attacks and ambushes from resistance forces across the country nearly every day.
At Least 60 Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Chin State’s Hakha in Past Month
At least 60 junta soldiers have been killed in clashes with local resistance forces in Chin State’s Hakha Township since late July, the Chin National Front (CNF) reported. Most junta soldiers were killed in ambushes and mine attacks, according to local resistance forces.
“It is not that a large number of junta troops were killed in a single clash. But two or three of them were killed daily in ambushes and mine attacks,” said the information officer of the Chinland Defense Force-Hakha (CDF-Hakha).
Around 80 junta troops from Hakha marched to Thantlang on July 30 with the stated purpose of rehabilitating the hilltop town. Nestled in the mountains of Chin State, Thantlang had around 2,700 houses before the coup in February 2021. But after repeated blazes set by regime forces since October last year, more than 1,000 of those houses have been burnt down.
Local Chin resistance forces including the Chin National Army, CDF-Zophei, CDF-Hakha, CDF-Thantlang, CDF-Lautu, CDF-Mara and Chinland Joint Defense Committee ambushed the junta troops heading to Thantlang, near the Thimit River on the Hakha-Thantlang road, which marks the boundary between Hakha and Thantlang townships.
An officer from CDF-Hakha said: “Their main intention is to repair the bridge over the Thimit River. But we have deployed our forces around there, so clashes happen once they come. Both sides use heavy guns in the fighting. We also carried out sneak attacks on their temporary camp.”
