Myanmar fighting intensifies near India border, curfew imposed in Sittwe

Offensive launched by anti-coup forces two weeks ago puts military under pressure and is now spreading across the country.

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November 14, 2023 1:47 pm

Members of ethnic armed groups continue to claim more territory in northern Myanmar [File: The Kokang via AP Photo]

Ethnic armed groups fighting to restore civilian rule in Myanmar have claimed new territory in the country’s northwest near the border with India, amid an escalating offensive against the military regime.

Fighters in Chin state reportedly took control of two military outposts on the border of India’s Mizoram state after hours-long battles on Monday, according to local media outlets.

Fighting was taking place across Rakhine, according to two residents and a spokesperson for the Arakan Army (AA), a group fighting for greater autonomy that has seized military posts in Rathedaung and Minbya towns.

A Rathedaung resident told Reuters on Tuesday the area came under artillery fire overnight and that the military had entered the town.

“Artillery fell on a street in Rathedaung town last night. No immediate report of injured or casualties yet,” said the resident, who asked not to be identified.

“People have started fleeing the town. Soldiers are in the town now.”

Despite its brutal history of communal violence and the 2017 military crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya, Rakhine emerged as one of the more peaceful parts of the country after the coup, thanks to an informal ceasefire between the AA and the military agreed just a few months before.

The arrangement began to break down by November 2021, as the AA entrenched its political control over the state.

The AA was established in 2009 to push for self-determination within Myanmar and mostly represents ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, who make up the majority of the state’s population.

Many of the country’s other ethnic armed groups have been fighting the military for decades.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA, REUTERS