Burma-Myanmar: Myanmar vows to crush Arakan Army (AA) and urges locals to cut support
Myanmar’s leaders on Monday vowed to “crush” an insurgency in western Rakhine state by the Arakan Army (AA), demanding that ethnic Rakhines end support for the armed group that killed 13 policeman in coordinated attacks during the country’s Independence Day last week.
Zaw Htay, director general of President Win Myint’s office, said Myanmar’s de facto leader State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi discussed the AA’s attacks during a meeting on national security held with the president, military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and other cabinet members.
“The president’s office has instructed the military to launch an operation to crush the terrorists,” he told a news conference in the capital Naypyidaw.
“The Myanmar government has denounced the AA as a terrorist organization and ordered the military to implement effective counter-insurgency measures against it,” he said.