Ethnic Rakhine armed group the Arakan Army (AA) said it rescued another 100 civilians, many of whom had been held hostage by Myanmar military regime forces, from Pauktaw town in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State on Wednesday.
In its second rescue operation in as many days, the AA freed 104 more civilians who had been detained by junta soldiers or trapped in the fighting in coastal Pauktaw town.
Renewed fighting broke out on Nov. 13 in Rakhine State as the AA launched an offensive against the Myanmar military, breaking a fragile ceasefire. The AA seized the main police station in Pauktaw town on Nov. 16, and the regime responded with indiscriminate bombardment using warships and aircraft.
Many civilians fled Pauktaw following the junta’s strikes, but a few hundred were trapped in the town. The regime detained some of them to use as human shields.
The AA carried out is first rescue operation on Tuesday, rescuing 120 civilians from the hands of junta forces.
During Wednesday’s operation, the AA said it attacked junta troops deployed in three locations in the town, killing 18 junta soldiers and wounding 18 others. Weapons and ammunition were also seized.
Some 30 junta soldiers were killed in the first rescue operation, the AA said.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the junta casualties. Dozens of houses and buildings in Pauktaw town are feared burnt in the fire caused by the junta’s continuous bombardment. In addition to strikes by junta warships and jet fighters on Pauktaw, junta battalions from Sittwe and Ponnagyun are shelling the town.
