Slugfest between Tatmadaw and AA ramped up in Arakan State

03 Aug 2019

Khaing Roe La | DMG

3 August, Sittwe

The fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army recently has intensified in five townships in Arakan State.

Fighting has been taking place in Buthidaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U and Minbya townships, and it has ramped up since the end of July, the AA’s information officer Khaing Thukha said.  

“Hostility has been fierce since end the of July. Five clashes broke out on 2 August in five townships,” Khaing Thukha said.

Colonel Win Zaw Oo from the Western Command however said that the fighting was ordinary.

Khaing Thukha said that the clashes on 1 and 2 August claimed 59 soldiers from the Tatmadaw and injured many soldiers while only three AA members received wounds and trivial injuries.

Colonel Win Zaw Oo, however, denied the statement of the AA, saying: “The Tatmadaw did not have that many casualties. It is just propaganda,”

The fighting in Arakan State has intensified because the Tatmadaw has launched offensive operations in the areas the AA is present in, the AA’s spokesperson said. 

The ongoing clashes between the Tatmadaw and the AA kicked off in December last year in Arakan State, resulting in over 100 IDP camps with more than 60,000 refugees in the region. 

Some IDP camps lack food and refugees are in dire need of health care service and access to education, according to relief groups.