Junta troops and the Arakan Army (AA) clashed in Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State on Wednesday, the latest in a series of deadly clashes since August in the region.
The AA killed several personnel in a mine attack on a junta convoy near Kywe Tet Pyin Village in northern Maungdaw on Wednesday morning, according to locals.
AA spokesman Khaing Thukha could not verify the junta casualties.
“A military vehicle was hit, and some junta personnel might have been killed. I don’t know details. And a clash has been going on near Myeik Wa Village in Paletwa Township since 7.30am. There were junta casualties. But I still don’t know details,” he told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
The clashes came one day after at least three junta personnel were killed and several others injured when the AA ambushed a regime patrol near Ywa Pakar Village in Taungup Township, southern Rakhine on Tuesday, said Khaing Thuka. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify junta casualties in these clashes.
“We attacked them because junta troops are tormenting people daily there. At least three regime personnel were killed in the ambush,” he told The Irrawaddy.
The AA’s ambush of the patrol also killed three border guard police and injured six others, The Irrawaddy learned.
“I heard two loud explosions. People said it happened on the road from Maungdaw to Hla Poe Kaung. They said a border guard police base in Maungdaw was sending food supplies in a convoy of seven vehicles to a border guard police outpost in Hla Poe Kaung when it was attacked,” said a Maungdaw resident.
After 16 months of relative calm following an informal ceasefire reached ahead of the November 2020 general election, Rakhine State has returned to conflict as the junta’s military attempts to stop the AA from consolidating its control in the region while the regime is kept busy fighting the resistance.
Townships in northern Rakhine have seen daily clashes since August. The AA said in a statement on Tuesday that 24 junta soldiers were killed in clashes from October 26 to 31.
Six civilians were killed and about 20 injured in August by indiscriminate regime artillery attacks in Rakhine.
