Faced with increasing attacks from armed Rohingya cadres based out of camps in Bangladesh, the Arakan Army today said that it would step up security along a significant portion of the riverine border with Bangladesh even as the Rakhine State-based outfit has been targeted by the Myanmar military junta troops in recent times.
In a statement today, the Arakan Army accused the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) of trying to infiltrate into Maungdaw district on the Rakhine coast by crossing the Naf river through which runs the international border separating Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Rohingya fighters have also tried to cross into Maungdaw through routes in the Maya mountains, the Arakan Army said.
Admitting that the Rohingya militants have been able to exploit security gaps along the riverine border, the Arakan Army accused the ARSA and RSO of shotting, abducting and killing non-Muslim civilians, besides alleging that the attackers have often been found to use Arakan Army uniforms to stage “fake battles”.
Even as the Arakan Army claims to have established total control along the 271-km-long Myanmar-Bangladesh border, the frequency of cross-border infiltration bids and attacks suggest a degree of military coordination
In a September 11 press release, the Arakan Army admitted to “continuous offensives” by Myanmar military junta troops to “reclaim lost territory in areas along the Ayeyarwady-Rakhine and Magway-Rakhine borders”.
These offensives, the release said, involved “battalions under Military Operations Command (MOC) 17, including Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) 574, 569, 575, 577, and 520, as well as Infantry Battalion (IB) 295”.
Consequently, the junta has deployed additional battalions comprising “new recruits” said to have been “forcibly conscripted and trained under the military council’s mandatory conscription law”, the release said.
This has led to intensified fighting in recent days, with renewed targeting of Natyaykan Hill in Magway Region.
The Arakan Army claimed that fierce battle on September 5, which lasted over two hours, took place approximately 2,800 meters northeast of Sun-tet village in Ngape Township, Magway Region, causing heavy losses to the military council’s forces.
Two days later, around 11:15 am, IB 295, a unit under MOC 17 based in Mong Pan, eastern Shan State, led by Deputy Commander Pyay Phyo Aung, launched a second offensive as a follow-up column, the Arakan Army admitted.
This column attacked Arakan Army forces approximately 3,000 meters northeast of Sun-tet village in Ngape Township, Magway Region.
Junta troops launched a fresh attack from a new location after their initial offensive from the southeast of Sun-tet village proved ineffective and was repelled.
However, under the Arakan Army’s defensive and counter-offensives, this column also suffered heavy casualties and was “routed”, the Arakan Army claimed, adding that during the “nearly eight-hour defensive operation”, insurgent outfit seized over 60 “enemy bodies, along with military equipment, weapons, and ammunition”.
A third offensive by the junta troops, about 200 metres northeast of Sun-tet village in Ngape Township, Magway Region (south of Natyaykan Hill, near Weluwun Monastery), was launched on September 7 which, the Arakan Army release claimed, was also repulsed.
However, the Arakan Army has been encountering formidable attacks from the Rohingya armed groups, forcing the Rakhine-based outfit to describe these depredations as “terrorist operations by Islamist extremist ARSA and RSO, which pose a grave threat to the lives, homes and properties” of Rakhine civilians living along the border with Bangladesh.
Even as “fighting continues to escalate in areas along the Ayeyarwady-Rakhine border (around Set Set Yo village), the Bago-Rakhine border (around Sinlam village), and the Yoe Mountain range” – as claimed by the Arakan Army – the outfit has cautioned civilians to not travel alone or in groups in forests and remote areas.
Civilians have been instructed to “inform the nearest administrative or security units of the Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government before travelling”.
In a September 11 statement, the Araka Army said that the previous day, around 1:00 PM, about 80 Bangladeshi fishing boats illegally entered Arakan waters and engaged in poaching at a spot located about 6.75 km west of Koetankauk village and 6.72 km west of Chainkharli village in Rathedaung Township, Arakan State.
The Arakan Coast Guard pursued and managed to apprehend only five of the boats, bringing them to the shore around 7 pm for “legal inspection and processing”.
The statement said that during the transfer, one of the five apprehended boats, “carrying terrorists disguised as fishermen”, attacked and killed one Arakan security officer and one coast guard member, seizing their weapons before fleeing to Bangladeshi territorial waters.
This, the Arakan Army claimed, constituted a “terrorist act” for which it said it would “take decisive action”.
