Border Guard Police Wounded in Rakhine Rebel Ambush: Myanmar Army

By Min Aung Khine 17 January 2019

SITTWE, Rakhine State — Six border guard police officers were wounded in an ambush by the Arakan Army (AA) on Wednesday in northern Rakhine State, according to Myanmar Army spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun.

He said the AA ambushed a vehicle with border guard police on board at around noon north of Maungdaw Township’s Kyee Kan Pyin Village, where the board guard police have a base.

“One was seriously wounded and the rest sustained minor injuries,” Brig. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy. “It happened in the north of Kyee Kan Pyin, not near the [border] fence. It was closer to the motor road. As far as I know, they were ambushed, which was followed by an exchange of fire.”

All the six wounded officers have been sent to Yangon for medical treatment, he added.

Khine Thu Kha, a spokesman for the AA, claimed that there was no clash in Maungdaw on Wednesday.

“There was no clash with us in Maungdaw the entire day of Jan. 16. But I heard there was friendly fire between the Bamar army and border guard police in Maungdaw. I heard it was friendly fire between reinforcements for the Bamar army and border police on patrol,” he said.

Also on Wednesday, two brothers, aged 12 and 18, were injured by an artillery shell that fell on their house in Maungdaw’s Yan Aung Myin Village, near the site of the reported gunfire.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.