No AA fighters killed in junta airstrike on Mrauk-U GAD office: spokesman

By Admin 24 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
24 May 2024, Mrauk-U

Reports that six Arakkha Army (AA) fighters were killed in a junta airstrike on the district General Administration Department (GAD) office in Mrauk-U, Arakan State, are false, the spokesperson for the ethnic armed group told DMG on Friday.

U Khaing Thukha said no one was living in the district GAD office and only the buildings were damaged by the junta airstrike, with no casualties reported.

“The news that a junta jet fighter opened fire at the district GAD office in Mrauk-U at around 9:40 a.m. on Friday is true,” U Khaing Thukha told DMG. “No casualties were reported in the regime air attack as no one was living in it. The claim that six AA fighters were killed by the junta airstrike is baseless misinformation. None of our troops are there.”

Mrauk-U residents also said that when they visited the district GAD office after the airstrike, only the office was damaged.

“A bomb dropped by a junta jet fighter damaged the district GAD office. We went to the scene following the airstrike and no casualties were reported,” said a local resident in Mrauk-U.

The AA took control of Mrauk-U on February 9. Locals in Mrauk-U have been living in fear as the regime has been bombing the ancient Arakanese city since mid-February.

Civilian casualties continue to rise as regime airstrikes increasingly target hospitals, government offices and other civilian areas in Arakan State.

Myanmar’s military regime carried out 409 airstrikes in 187 incidents over the four months from January 1 to April 30 in Arakan State, Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica reported on Tuesday. The junta conducted 2,567 airstrikes in 819 incidents across Myanmar during that period, with Arakan State suffering the highest number of strikes at 409.