YANGON: Twelve people have died in the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine state in clashes between armed men and troops, state media reported on Wednesday, in a sharp escalation of violence in the restive region.

Four soldiers and one attacker were killed on Tuesday when hundreds of men wielding pistols and swords assailed troops in Pyaungpit village, in Maungdaw township.

Troops also found seven dead along with with rudimentary weapons after fighting broke out in the nearby village of Taung Paing Nyar.

“After the incident, troops found seven dead bodies,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

“Swords and sticks were found with the bodies.”

The military been scouring the region, not far from the border with Bangladesh, after nine police officers were killed on Sunday in coordinated attacks on three border posts.

Most people in the impoverished area are Muslim Rohingya, a stateless minority Buddhist nationalists vilify as illegal immigrants.

The unrest has raised the spectre of a repeat of 2012 when sectarian violence ripped through Rakhine, killing more than 100 people and driving tens of thousands of Rohingya into displacement camps.

Four men suspected of being involved in Sunday’s attacks, two of whom were named as Andra Mular Kein and Mawlawi Fordita Laung by state media, were also captured on Tuesday. AFP </s> Twelve people have died in the north of Myanmar's Rakhine state in clashes between armed men and troops, state media reported on Wednesday, in a sharp escalation of violence in the restive region.

Four soldiers and one attacker were killed on Tuesday when hundreds of men wielding pistols and swords assailed troops in Pyaungpit village, in Maungdaw township.

Troops also found seven dead along with rudimentary weapons after fighting broke out in the nearby village of Taung Paing Nyar.

“After the incident, troops found seven dead bodies,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported.

“Swords and sticks were found with the bodies.”

The military have been scouring the region, not far from the border with Bangladesh, after nine police officers were killed on Sunday in coordinated attacks on three border posts.

Most people in the impoverished area are Muslim Rohingya, a stateless minority Buddhist nationalists vilify as illegal immigrants.

The unrest has raised the spectre of a repeat of 2012 when sectarian violence ripped through Rakhine, killing more than 100 people and driving tens of thousands of Rohingya into displacement camps.

Four men suspected of being involved in Sunday's attacks, two of whom were named as Andra Mular Kein and Mawlawi Fordita Laung by state media, were also captured on Tuesday. </s> YANGON: Buddhist Rakhine fighters killed seven Myanmar security forces in attacks on four police posts in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state on Friday (Jan 4) as the country marked Independence Day, spokesmen for the military and the armed group said.

The western state has been torn by violence once again since early December, when fighting intensified between government forces and the Arakan Army, which wants more autonomy for the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic minority.

Rakhine was where a brutal military-led crackdown in 2017 drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims into bordering Bangladesh.

The recent fighting with the Arakan Army had forced 2,500 civilians to flee their homes by the end of last year, according to the United Nations.

Arakan Army spokesman Khine Thu Kha told Reuters the group attacked four police posts and later retrieved the corpses of seven "enemies".

The group also detained 12 Myanmar security force members, he said. "We will process them according to international law. We will not harm them," he said.

The attacks were a response to a Myanmar military offensive against the Arakan Army in recent weeks that had also targeted civilians, he said.

The Myanmar military last month announced a four-month halt in fighting in the north and northeast of the country to kick-start peace talks with multiple armed groups fighting for ethnic autonomy, but that announcement excluded Rakhine.



Myanmar state media earlier reported an attack by the same group on Tuesday that seriously injured one policemen.

Myanmar military spokesman Zaw Min Tun told Reuters security forces were responding to Friday's attacks, which targeted police posts in the northern parts of Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, a rugged area near the border with Bangladesh.

"The military will continue its operations in the area for security," he said, declining to confirm how many people were killed and captured by the armed group.

"These police posts are there to protect the national races in the area so shouldn't attack them," Zaw Min Tun said, referring to mostly Buddhist ethnic groups in the area that are recognised as Myanmar citizens. Those groups include the Rakhine but not the Rohingya.

Zaw Min Tun said the attacks began minutes after the national flag was raised across Myanmar to mark 71 years since independence from Britain.

The Arakan Army's Khine Thu Kha said the attacks were not intended to coincide with the anniversary.

"We are not independent yet. Today is not our Independence Day," he said, referring to the Rakhine who he said faced discrimination in Myanmar. </s> Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption It is not clear who this newly active armed force in Rakhine is

At least four soldiers were killed in a third day of clashes in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state on Tuesday, the army said.

State media said the soldiers were attacked by 300 men armed with pistols, swords and knives.

Nine police officers were killed in co-ordinated attacks at the weekend along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh.

Rakhine has seen long-running tensions between Buddhists and the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Yangon says it is not clear who is behind this newly active armed force in Rakhine, but the Rohingya are being blamed for the attacks.

If that is the case, it would mark a worrying new phase of the crisis in Rakhine state, our correspondent adds.

Journalists are not being allowed in the area.

In 2012, communal violence gripped Rakhine, killing more than 100 people and driving thousands of Rohingya into refugee camps where many still live.

The Rohingya say they are descendants of Arab traders and have been in Myanmar for generations.

But many among the Buddhist majority believe they are Bengali migrants, and they are denied citizenship by the government.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption A funeral service was held for the nine police officers who were killed during co-ordinated attacks at the border

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Some of the people suspected of involvement in the weekend attacks were taken into custody

Tuesday's clashes in Pyaungpit village in Maungdaw township also left one attacker dead, according to the AFP news agency.

Troops also found seven dead bodies, state media said. Witnesses told the BBC the bodies were found dumped in a mass grave.

The UN has expressed "deep concern" and asked all sides to "exercise maximum restraint".

"At this delicate juncture, the local communities at all levels must refuse to be provoked by these incidents and their leaders must work actively to prevent incitement of animosity or mutual hatred between Buddhist and Muslim communities," the special adviser to the secretary-general on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, said in a statement. </s> Nine policemen have been killed in a militant attack in the western Rakhine state of Myanmar. Nearly 60 members of the Arakan Army terrorist group attacked using small and large weapons.

The attack, carried out by Arakan Army insurgents, happened late yesterday in Yoetayoke village, just an hour north of Rakhine state’s capital Sittwe.

The insurgent Arakan Army killed 13 police in a similar attack further north in January and has frequently clashed with Myanmar security forces since December. </s> Rakhine rebels kill nine in fresh strike on Myanmar police: official

Arakan Army insurgents killed nine Myanmar police in the latest attack in the country’s western Rakhine State, a local official said on Sunday, as clashes threaten to engulf a large part of the troubled region. </s> YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar's government has reported fierce fighting in the western state of Rakhine, where the army has been conducting counterinsurgency operations since nine police officers were killed in attacks on posts along the border with Bangladesh last month.

An Information Ministry statement said government troops were ambushed Saturday morning by about 60 attackers armed with guns, knives and spears. It said one soldier and at least six attackers died, adding that an army officer died in a later battle against 500 armed men, which ended when two air force helicopters joined the fight.

The attackers weren't identified, but the army has aligned with Rakhine Buddhists against Muslims of the Rohingya ethnic minority since violent intercommunal conflict erupted in 2012. Human rights groups have accused government forces of abuses against Rohingya civilians. </s> YANGON (Reuters) - Arakan Army insurgents killed nine Myanmar police in the latest attack in the country’s western Rakhine State, the government said on Sunday, as clashes threaten to engulf a large part of the troubled region.

Villagers heard gunfire as fighters from the armed group, which recruits from the mainly Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group, raided a police post in the village of Yoe Ta Yoke late on Saturday night.

The Myanmar Ministry of Information said on its Facebook page that nine police, all of them recruits from nearby the village, were confirmed dead and one other was still missing on Sunday.

“Around 60 members of the AA terrorist group attacked using small and large weapons,” the statement said.

The insurgent Arakan Army killed 13 police in a similar attack further north in January and has frequently clashed with Myanmar security forces since December.

Myanmar’s leaders vowed to crush the rebels, who are fighting for autonomy for Rakhine, but clashes have spread to new areas, displacing more than 5,000 people in all. Authorities have declared large parts of the north of the state off-limits to most aid agencies.

In 2017, attacks on security posts by insurgents from the Muslim Rohingya minority provoked a military crackdown in the north of the state. U.N. agencies say more than 730,000 people fled into camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district.

Saturday night’s attack took place about 50 km (31 miles) north of the Rakhine state capital Sittwe, along the main road connecting the city with the rest of Myanmar.

A villager in his fifties told Reuters that two policemen stationed at the post survived the attack, which took place shortly after 11 p.m.

“The battle went on for about 20 minutes,” said the villager, who asked not to be named. “I was in village at that time and I heard gun shots, but the villagers didn’t run away.”

Myanmar’s military said in a separate statement on Sunday that troops clashed on Saturday with about 200 men from the Arakan Army at a different location, along Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh. </s> YANGON: Buddhist Rakhine insurgents killed 13 policemen and injured nine in attacks on four police posts in Myanmar's Rakhine state on Friday as the country marked Independence Day, the official news agency said.

Fighting resurged in Rakhine in early December between government forces and the rebel Arakan Army, which wants more autonomy for the Buddhist ethnic Rakhine minority.

It was also in the restive western state that a military-led crackdown in 2017 prompted hundreds of thousands of minority Rohingya Muslims to flee westwards to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The separate conflict between the military and Arakan Army rebels forced 2,500 civilians from their homes by the end of last year, according to the United Nations.

The official Myanmar News Agency said four police posts in the Buthidaung area in northern Rakhine came under attack from hundreds of Arakan Army fighters after daybreak on Friday.

Thirteen policemen were killed and nine injured as police were forced to abandon two of the posts, it said, adding that the military was now conducting a "clearance" of the area.

Myanmar military spokesman Zaw Min Tun said earlier the insurgents had hit police outposts in a rugged region near the border with Bangladesh.

"These police posts are there to protect the national races in the area so (Arakan Army rebels) shouldn't attack them," Zaw Min Tun said, referring to mostly Buddhist ethnic groups in the area who are, unlike Rohingya Muslims, considered Myanmar citizens.

Arakan Army spokesman Khine Thu Kha confirmed the assault and said rebels later retrieved the corpses of seven "enemies".

He said later that rebels had freed at least 12 members of the security forces it detained in the fighting.

The attacks, he added, came in response to a Myanmar military offensive against the Arakan Army in recent weeks that had also targeted civilians.

The Myanmar military last month announced a four-month halt to fighting in the north and northeast of the country to kick-start peace talks with multiple armed groups seeking ethnic autonomy, but that announcement excluded Rakhine state.

Friday's violence erupted shortly after the national flag was raised across the southeast Asian country to mark 71 years since independence from Britain, but the Arakan Army spokesman denied any connection between the attacks and the anniversary.

"We are not independent yet. Today is not our Independence Day," Khine Thu Kha said.

Last August a U.N. report accused the Myanmar military of mass killings and rapes of Rohingya with "genocidal intent" in 2017 in then operation that drove more than 700,000 of them to flee to Bangladesh, according to U.N. agencies.

Myanmar has denied the charges, saying its military launched a counter-insurgency operation after attacks on security posts by Muslim militants.
In a third day of fighting, an attack in Rakhine State kills four Myanmar soldiers.