NAYPYITAW— Renewed fighting between government troops and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) near the Bangladesh border on Thursday left two militants dead and three ARSA members were captured alive, according to Myanmar’s military.
ARSA is responsible for a series of attacks on police outposts, killing dozens of security personnel, in 2016 and 2017 in northern Rakhine State. The Myanmar government denounces ARSA as a terrorist organization.
Following the attacks in 2017, the Myanmar military launched clearance operations, prompting more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.
United Nations investigators say the operations had “genocidal intent”.
Myanmar military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said eight ARSA members were spotted in Maungdaw Township near the Bangladesh border and opened fire on the government troops.
“We killed two and detained three alive and seized two guns, some ammunition, one improvised mine and other items,” he said, adding that security forces suffered no casualties.
The spokesman said the arrests were filed with the border guard police.
The Thursday incident was the first strike by ARSA since January this year, when the border guard police and a military engineering unit were attacked near the border, injuring three.
