Reuters
Updated Mon, November 13, 2023
(Reuters) -Ethnic minority insurgent groups attacked security posts in Myanmar on Monday, residents, rebels and an official said, as fighting erupted on two new fronts, and thousands of people crossed into neighbouring India seeking safety.
Myanmar's military junta is facing its biggest test since taking power in a 2021 coup after three ethnic minority forces launched a coordinated offensive in late October, capturing some towns and military posts.
The military-installed president last week said Myanmar, a country the size of France, was at risk of breaking apart because of an ineffective response to the rebellion. The generals say they are fighting "terrorists".
One of the three allied insurgent groups, the Arakan Army (AA), which is fighting for greater autonomy in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, seized posts in the Rathedaung and Minbya areas, about 200 km (124 miles) apart, AA spokesman Khine Thu Kha said.
"We have conquered some posts and fighting is continuing in some other places," he said.
A resident of Rathedaung said gunfire was heard before dawn on Monday followed by hours of artillery bombardment, with the military seen blocking entrances to the area and reinforcing administrative buildings.
Fighting also broke out in Chin State, which borders India, when insurgents attacked two military camps, according to an Indian official and two sources with knowledge of the assault.
About 5,000 people from Myanmar crossed into India's Mizoram state to seek shelter from the fighting, said James Lalrinchhana, the deputy commissioner of a district on the Myanmar border.
Chin State, which had been largely peaceful for years, saw fierce fighting after the 2021 coup with thousands of residents taking up arms against the military administration.
A spokesperson for Myanmar's junta did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the latest fighting.
OVERSTRETCHED MILITARY
The new combat will be another blow for a junta that is increasingly stretched as armed opposition to its rule grows in scale and strength, fuelled by anger over the coup and ensuing crackdown that ended a decade of tentative democratic reforms.
The coordinated anti-junta offensive launched on Oct. 27 in Shan State in the northeast has seen several towns and more than 100 military posts seized near the border with China.
Assaults on urban centres have also taken place in the Sagaing region in central Myanmar, to the west of Shan State, while conflict in neighbouring Kayah State to the south led to the crash on Saturday of a fighter jet.
The rebels said they shot the aircraft down while the military said it had a technical fault.
Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar Adviser for the Crisis Group think tank, said the military had experience fighting in Rakhine State but could struggle as enemy forces probe for weaknesses in multiple areas.
"If combat persists, it will open a significant new front for the regime, which is already overstretched," he said.
"It will be hard for the regime to focus their efforts across all fronts."
(Reporting by Reuters Staff and Chanchinmawia in MIZORAM; Writing by Martin Petty and Devjyot Ghoshal; editing by Robert Birsel)
Myanmar army faces a new challenge as an armed ethnic group opens a new front in a western state
Updated Mon, November 13, 2023
(Reuters) -Ethnic minority insurgent groups attacked security posts in Myanmar on Monday, residents, rebels and an official said, as fighting erupted on two new fronts, and thousands of people crossed into neighbouring India seeking safety.
Myanmar's military junta is facing its biggest test since taking power in a 2021 coup after three ethnic minority forces launched a coordinated offensive in late October, capturing some towns and military posts.
The military-installed president last week said Myanmar, a country the size of France, was at risk of breaking apart because of an ineffective response to the rebellion. The generals say they are fighting "terrorists".
One of the three allied insurgent groups, the Arakan Army (AA), which is fighting for greater autonomy in Rakhine State in western Myanmar, seized posts in the Rathedaung and Minbya areas, about 200 km (124 miles) apart, AA spokesman Khine Thu Kha said.
"We have conquered some posts and fighting is continuing in some other places," he said.
A resident of Rathedaung said gunfire was heard before dawn on Monday followed by hours of artillery bombardment, with the military seen blocking entrances to the area and reinforcing administrative buildings.
Fighting also broke out in Chin State, which borders India, when insurgents attacked two military camps, according to an Indian official and two sources with knowledge of the assault.
About 5,000 people from Myanmar crossed into India's Mizoram state to seek shelter from the fighting, said James Lalrinchhana, the deputy commissioner of a district on the Myanmar border.
Chin State, which had been largely peaceful for years, saw fierce fighting after the 2021 coup with thousands of residents taking up arms against the military administration.
A spokesperson for Myanmar's junta did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the latest fighting.
OVERSTRETCHED MILITARY
The new combat will be another blow for a junta that is increasingly stretched as armed opposition to its rule grows in scale and strength, fuelled by anger over the coup and ensuing crackdown that ended a decade of tentative democratic reforms.
The coordinated anti-junta offensive launched on Oct. 27 in Shan State in the northeast has seen several towns and more than 100 military posts seized near the border with China.
Assaults on urban centres have also taken place in the Sagaing region in central Myanmar, to the west of Shan State, while conflict in neighbouring Kayah State to the south led to the crash on Saturday of a fighter jet.
The rebels said they shot the aircraft down while the military said it had a technical fault.
Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar Adviser for the Crisis Group think tank, said the military had experience fighting in Rakhine State but could struggle as enemy forces probe for weaknesses in multiple areas.
"If combat persists, it will open a significant new front for the regime, which is already overstretched," he said.
"It will be hard for the regime to focus their efforts across all fronts."
(Reporting by Reuters Staff and Chanchinmawia in MIZORAM; Writing by Martin Petty and Devjyot Ghoshal; editing by Robert Birsel)
Myanmar army faces a new challenge as an armed ethnic group opens a new front in a western state
GRANT PECK
Updated Mon, November 13, 2023
Members of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army pose for a photograph with the weapons allegedly seized from the Myanmar's army outpost on a hill in Chinshwehaw town, Myanmar, Saturday Oct. 28, 2023. The leader of Myanmar’s army-installed government said the military will carry out counter-attacks against a powerful alliance of ethnic armed groups that has seized towns near the Chinese border in the country’s northeastern and northern regions, state-run media reported Friday Nov. 3, 2023.
("The Kokang" online media via AP)
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government faced a fresh challenge Monday when one of the armed ethnic groups in an alliance that recently gained strategic territory in the country's northeast launched attacks in the western state of Rakhine.
The Arakan Army launched surprise assaults on two outposts of the Border Guard Police, a paramilitary force, in Rakhine’s Rathedaung township, according to independent online media and area residents. The attacks took place despite a yearlong cease-fire with Myanmar’s military government.
Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told The Associated Press that two military security outposts in Rathedaung were seized by his group and more than 20 police officers from a station in another township, Kyauktaw, had laid down their weapons.
“Some officers of Myanmar’s army have been arrested,” Khaing Thukha said by phone.
Local media outlets reported fighting between the Arakan Army and the military in Minbya, Maungdaw, Mrauk-U and Kyauktaw townships. The reports said the army blocked all roads in the affected area, and residents in the state’s capital of Sittwe were ordered not to go outside after 9 p.m.
The Arakan Army is the well-trained and well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement seeking autonomy from the central government. Rakhine is also known by its older name of Arakan. It's the site of a brutal army counterinsurgency operation in 2017 that drove about 740,000 minority Rohingya Muslims to seek safety across the border in Bangladesh.
The Arakan Army, along with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army -- calling themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance -- launched a coordinated offensive on Oct. 27 in northern Shan state in northeastern Myanmar along the border with China.
The alliance has claimed widespread victories and the military government has acknowledged losing control of three towns, one of which is a major border crossing for trade with China. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army claimed to have seized another town, Kunlong, on Sunday.
Myanmar’s ruling military council declared martial law in eight townships near the Chinese border, the state-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar reported Monday.
The offensive in the northern part of Shan state was already seen as a significant challenge for the army, which has struggled to contain a nationwide uprising by the members of Peoples’ Defense Force. The pro-democracy resistance organization was formed after the army seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in February 2021. It also set up loose alliances with several of the ethnic armed groups.
"If combat persists, it will open a significant new front for the regime, which is already overstretched with fighting, including on its eastern border with China,” Richard Horsey, the senior adviser on Myanmar for the Crisis Group think tank, said in an emailed statement.
The army-installed acting president, Myint Swe, said at a meeting last week of the state National Defense and Security Council that the country is in critical condition and could split up if the military does not effectively manage the problems in Shan state, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government faced a fresh challenge Monday when one of the armed ethnic groups in an alliance that recently gained strategic territory in the country's northeast launched attacks in the western state of Rakhine.
The Arakan Army launched surprise assaults on two outposts of the Border Guard Police, a paramilitary force, in Rakhine’s Rathedaung township, according to independent online media and area residents. The attacks took place despite a yearlong cease-fire with Myanmar’s military government.
Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told The Associated Press that two military security outposts in Rathedaung were seized by his group and more than 20 police officers from a station in another township, Kyauktaw, had laid down their weapons.
“Some officers of Myanmar’s army have been arrested,” Khaing Thukha said by phone.
Local media outlets reported fighting between the Arakan Army and the military in Minbya, Maungdaw, Mrauk-U and Kyauktaw townships. The reports said the army blocked all roads in the affected area, and residents in the state’s capital of Sittwe were ordered not to go outside after 9 p.m.
The Arakan Army is the well-trained and well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement seeking autonomy from the central government. Rakhine is also known by its older name of Arakan. It's the site of a brutal army counterinsurgency operation in 2017 that drove about 740,000 minority Rohingya Muslims to seek safety across the border in Bangladesh.
The Arakan Army, along with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army -- calling themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance -- launched a coordinated offensive on Oct. 27 in northern Shan state in northeastern Myanmar along the border with China.
The alliance has claimed widespread victories and the military government has acknowledged losing control of three towns, one of which is a major border crossing for trade with China. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army claimed to have seized another town, Kunlong, on Sunday.
Myanmar’s ruling military council declared martial law in eight townships near the Chinese border, the state-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar reported Monday.
The offensive in the northern part of Shan state was already seen as a significant challenge for the army, which has struggled to contain a nationwide uprising by the members of Peoples’ Defense Force. The pro-democracy resistance organization was formed after the army seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in February 2021. It also set up loose alliances with several of the ethnic armed groups.
"If combat persists, it will open a significant new front for the regime, which is already overstretched with fighting, including on its eastern border with China,” Richard Horsey, the senior adviser on Myanmar for the Crisis Group think tank, said in an emailed statement.
The army-installed acting president, Myint Swe, said at a meeting last week of the state National Defense and Security Council that the country is in critical condition and could split up if the military does not effectively manage the problems in Shan state, the Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
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