Over 67 killed by airstrikes in Arakan State since Sunday; ICRC requests humanitarian access during visit to Naypyidaw
Over 67 killed by airstrikes in Arakan State since Sunday
The Arakan Army (AA) claimed that more than 50 people, including prisoners of war, were killed during airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force on the No. 2 Border Guard Post in Maungdaw Township, located near the Burma-Bangladesh border in northern Arakan State on Monday. It reported that members of pro-military Rohingya armed groups and the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) were among the dead.
The AA added that a fighter jet opened fire on U.N. buildings in Waithali village and at 3 Mile Point in Maungdaw on Sept. 9. The AA seized control of the No. 2 Border Guard Post on July 6. Another 17 people, including children and healthcare workers, were also reportedly killed and 10 were injured during airstrikes on a healthcare center in Pauktaw Township, south of the Arakan State capital Sittwe, on Sunday.
“It is the place where the AA provided healthcare for prisoners and prisoners of war. They dropped bombs with their aircraft twice,” an anonymous source from the AA told DVB. Pauktaw came under the control of the AA on Jan. 24. Min Aung Hlaing said during a visit to the Shan State capital Taunggyi on Sept. 3 that the military would launch retaliatory attacks in areas controlled by resistance forces.
Military prepares for resistance attacks in eastern Kachin State
Kachin Independence Army (KIA) General Sumlut Gun Maw condemned the regime’s order for heightened defense against the KIA and People’s Defense Force (PDF) in the Kachin State Special Region 1, which is located in northeastern Kachin near the China border, on Monday. The area is controlled by the pro-military Kachin Border Guard Force (BGF).
“The order should not have been issued,” Sumlut Gun Maw posted on his social media account. The martial order was issued in June and signed by Zahkung Ting Ying, the chief of the Kachin Special Region 1. He directed the BGF and militias based in Chipwi, Tsawlaw, Kanpaikti – which make up the special region – to “implement strict defense measures.”
The regime order claimed that “the KIA and PDF are conducting offensives to disrupt the peace of local ethnic communities and the country” in the region. Much of Burma’s lucrative rare earth mining is conducted in the Kachin Special Region 1. The Kachin BGF was formed by the New Democratic Army – Kachin under military chain of command in 2009.
ICRC requests humanitarian access during visit to Naypyidaw
A delegation led by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric met with Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday. Spoljaric called on the regime to allow greater humanitarian access to conflict-affected areas of the country.
“Many families in Myanmar are going without basic medicines and health care, face food shortages and have limited access to clean water and sanitation. They live with the fear of conflict and violence. The disruption of livelihoods is leaving countless people without the means to sustain themselves,” Spoljaric stated in a press release on Monday.
Spoljaric visited Burma from Sept. 5-9 and met with colleagues at the Myanmar Red Cross in Naypyidaw on Sunday. This is her first trip to Burma since becoming ICRC president in October 2022. The previous ICRC president, Peter Maurer, visited Burma in June 2021 – four months after the military coup. The regime claimed that it is adhering to international humanitarian law.
News by Region
KACHIN—At least four civilians were killed and at least six were injured during fighting between the KIA and the military in Saitaung village of Hpakant Township on Sept. 5. Ywat Zaw Khaung from the Peace-talk Creation Group, which mediates between the military and resistance forces, was among the injured.
“I heard the representatives of the Peace-talk Creation Group negotiated with the military not to use violence against the public, but it seems the military did not accept and is conducting retaliatory shelling,” Naw Bu, the KIA spokesperson told DVB. Around 1,500 civilians living around Saitaung village have been displaced from their homes due to the fighting.
KAREN—Cyber scam centers operating in Shwe Kokko, located 12 miles (20 km) north of Myawaddy, have reportedly relocated to territory under the control of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) in Karen State, as well as Laos and Cambodia, since the Karen BGF issued a warning for them to leave by October.
“They may move to Cambodia or Laos but they will return to Burma. I have seen a lot of job postings for these businesses,” an anti-human trafficking group working along the Thailand-Burma border told DVB. The Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar has documented that there are nearly 50 cyber scam compounds operating along the Thai border.
SHAN—Heavy flooding has affected towns in eastern Shan State, including Kengtung and Tachileik, since the remnants of Typhoon Yagi arrived in the region on Monday. The flooding has also impacted areas under the control of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA).
“The stream on the [Mongpawk] outskirts near the Chinese border overflowed. In the morning, the water began to rise, and by evening, it had started to gradually recede,” a Mongpauk resident told DVB. Water levels exceeded critical thresholds in Tachileik on Monday, according to local sources. The regime’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has issued a heavy rainfall warning for most of Burma.
