AA warns public to beware of regime soldiers fleeing with weapons

By Admin 25 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
25 May 2024, Sittwe

The Arakkha Army (AA) issued a statement on Friday advising people to be aware of the danger of junta soldiers who are fleeing with weapons from military camps in Arakan State.

Some junta soldiers along with their weapons have managed to flee their camps in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Ann and Thandwe townships amid fierce fighting between the military and AA.

Junta soldiers were forced to flee AA attacks on military camps in Maungdaw Township, said a source on the ground.

“Hundreds of regime soldiers in Maungdaw fled to Bangladesh and they are being hunted down by the AA fighters,” the source added.

Soldiers who managed to flee the junta’s Border Guard Force (BGF) Battalion No. 2 in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, on May 22 are being hunted down by AA fighters after the ethnic armed group seized the BGF base.

More than 100 junta soldiers from Border Guard Police Battalion Nos. 2 and 4 in Mawyawaddy and 4th Mile crossed the Naf River and fled into Bangladesh on May 18.

“Junta soldiers may be escaping to various places. They can harm people at any time, so people need to be very careful,” said a politician in Arakan State.

In the battle for control of Buthidaung, regime soldiers fled to villages and other places that seemed safe, prompting the AA to issue a special warning to people around the town to live with caution.

Fleeing junta soldiers and military-trained Muslim militiamen are being hunted down by the AA fighters, the statement said.

“We have to serve as night guards to safeguard our neighbourhood on a rotational basis. We have to be careful about the junta soldiers with arms who were forced to flee their camps by the AA attacks,” said a local resident in Buthidaung.

The AA captured Buthidaung Township on May 18.

Fighting has been raging in Arakan State for more than six months, with the AA seizing large swaths of territory and effective control of nine townships, as well as Paletwa Township in neighbouring Chin State.