AA launches assault on military position in Kyauktaw Twsp

By Admin 12 Jan 2024

DMG Newsroom
12 January 2024, Kyauktaw

The Arakan Army (AA) has been attacking the military’s Kyauktaw-based Light Infantry Battalion No. 539 since January 10, with the military responding to the ethnic armed group’s attack with aerial support and shelling, according to local residents.

Two residents were killed and one other was injured as regime forces shelled several villages including Apaukwa Village after the AA attacked the military’s Kansauk-based LIB No. 539 on the Sittwe-Yangon road and Artillery Regiment No. 377.

The fighting escalated and a junta helicopter opened fire on residential areas on January 12, a resident said.

“The fighting between the military and AA has been intensifying since January 10. The regime forces often fire heavy weapons into the villages. A junta helicopter opened fire on residential areas on January 12, forcing thousands of locals from villages near the military regiments,” said a resident of Apaukwa Village.

The junta artillery strikes have forced thousands to flee several villages such as Wahtaung, Kansauk, Panphechaung, Mee Yat Pyin, Lanpaikkhwin, Khwasone, Pyaungseik, Oattaungpyin, Pyainechaung, Apaukwa and Oosuntaung.

No casualties were reported after three mortar shells fired by regime forces landed and exploded in Khwasone Village, said a villager.

The AA has been attacking junta bases, Border Guard Force (BGF) outposts and military regiments during the latest hostilities in Arakan State. The AA seized nearly 160 BGF outposts and police stations abandoned by junta troops, as well as two tactical command bases, within the first 45 days of the latest hostilities in Arakan State, which began on November 13.

“Previously, the AA attacked BGF outposts and junta bases, but now it launched assaults on the military regiments. The military’s LIB 539 set up a security checkpoint at the foot of Mount Kansauk, arrested some residents from Apaukwa and Kardi villages, and imprisoned them,” said a resident of Kanpaikkhwin Village.

The Arakan Army has seized a junta tactical command base east of the Kaladan River, near Tinma Village in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township. The AA has been attacking the junta’s tactical command base on Mount Taung Shae, near the village of Tinma, since December 25.