Burma-Myanmar: 20 villages abandoned as Arakan Army (AA) rebels attack burmese army outpost
The monthlong fighting between Myanmar’s military and Arakan Army (AA) to the east of the Kaladan River on the border of Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw and Chin State’s Paletwa has forced nearly 20 villages to be abandoned.
“Our village was reduced to ashes. All the houses were burned down days ago and artillery shells landed on the village monastery yesterday,” the village administrator of Mont Than Pyin, U Kyaw Sein, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
“Everyone living along the Kaladan River has fled to either Paletwa or Kyauktaw. The fighting is still fierce. We no longer have homes to return to and have even lost the monastery,” he added.
Seven villages along the east bank of the Kaladan and 11 on the west bank have been abandoned.