Myanmar’s junta has responded to the Arakan Army (AA)’s advance in Rakhine State by intensifying attacks on civilian targets while reinforcing troops.
On Tuesday, the junta’s No. 15 Military Operations Command based in Buthidaung shelled Maung Hnama Pale Taung village, killing three boys on the spot and severely wounding eight other residents.
Locals said the shelling was unprovoked as there was no fighting nearby.
The attack came a day after Light Infantry Battalion 263 based in Buthidaung Township shelled Thabyaytaw village, injuring at least three civilians, despite no reports of clashes with the AA in the area.
The AA, a member of Brotherhood Alliance which initiated Operation 1027 in northern Shan State, has resumed its attack on Danyawaddy Naval Base in Kyaukphyu Township, south of the state capital Sittwe.
The ethnic army launched its first-ever assault on the base on Jan. 8.
Clashes between junta troops and AA forces are also reportedly escalating across Rakhine’s Pauktaw, Mrauk U, Minbya and Rathedaung townships.
Junta troops responded to clashes with AA forces in Pauktaw Township – which lies just across the Kaladan River from Sittwe – by torching more houses on Monday. The junta is using the river to ship in more troop reinforcements.
“Junta naval vessels are firing light and heavy weapons into villages along the waterways where they are transporting the reinforcements,” said a resident of Minbya, just west of Pauktaw.
Residents of Sittwe and other Rakhine townships have had no access to the internet for over a week now after the junta cut the connection.
The regime shut down the internet in Sittwe city and Ponnakyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk U, Minbya, Pauktaw, Myaypon, Rathidaung, Buthidaung, Maungdaw Townships on Jan. 16. The blackout extends to Paletwa, the southernmost township of Chin State bordering Rakhine, said residents there.
The junta has also blockaded all routes in and out of Rakhine since fighting with the AA resumed on November 13.
The blockade has brought shortages of basic goods including food, fuel and medicine, sparking soaring prices that have left many locals struggling.
“We are living in a state of daily anxiety with no place to run. The entire population of Rakhine is being held hostage,” said a 54-year-old male resident of Sittwe.
Analysts monitoring the conflict in Rakhine say the war is likely to intensify as the junta pours troops into the state via any route it can find.
The Brotherhood Alliance has also warned of junta preparations and deployments in the western state. It said the regime was preparing to send troops who fled over the border into India in recent weeks back to the Rakhine front line while deploying over 400 reinforcements to various conflict zones in the state.
