At least 12 people have died in a series of coordinated attacks by insurgents on police posts and an army base in Myanmar.

At least five police and seven Rohingya Muslim insurgents have been killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state, the government says, after militants staged coordinated attacks on 24 police posts and tried breaking into an army base.

The overnight attacks mark a dramatic escalation in a conflict simmering in Rakhine since last October, when similar attacks that killed nine police prompted a massive military counter-offensive beset by allegations of civilian killings, rape and arson.

The military operation then resulted in some 87,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh and the United Nations accused Myanmar's security forces of likely committing crimes against humanity. </s> YANGON: At least 21 insurgents and 11 members of the security forces were killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state on Friday when militants staged a major coordinated attack on 24 police posts and an army base, the military said.

The fighting - still going on in some areas - marked a major escalation in a simmering conflict in the northwestern state since last October, when similar attacks prompted a big military sweep beset by allegations of serious rights abuses.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a group previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin, or "Faith Movement", which instigated the October attacks, claimed responsibility for the early morning offensive, and warned of more attacks.

The treatment of approximately 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya has emerged as majority Buddhist Myanmar's most contentious human rights issue as it makes a transition from decades of harsh military rule.

It now appears to have spawned a potent insurgency.

The situation in the state deteriorated early this month when security forces began a new "clearance operation" in a remote mountain area.

The army said that one soldier, 10 policemen and 21 insurgents had been killed in the attacks. Two military sources contacted by Reuters said there may be more deaths.

"The extremist Bengali insurgents attacked a police station in Maungdaw region in northern Rakhine state with a handmade bomb explosive and held coordinated attacks on several police posts at 1 a.m.," a news team affiliated with the office of national leader Aung San Suu Kyi said in a statement, using the derogatory term "Bengali" to refer to Rohingya.

The Rohingya are denied citizenship and are seen by many in Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite claiming roots in the region that go back centuries, with communities marginalized and occasionally subjected to communal violence.

The military counter-offensive in October resulted in some 87,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, where they joined many others who have fled from Myanmar over the past two decades or more.

The United Nations said Myanmar's security forces likely committed crimes against humanity in the offensive that began in October.

The government news team listed 24 police posts that had come under attack, adding police and the military were continuing to fight the insurgents.

It said about 150 Rohingya attackers had attempted to break into a military base, prompting the army to fight back.

"They were planning to attack because we have found their camps, the caves and the bombs and masks inside the caves," said Myanmar police headquarters spokesman Colonel Myo Thu Soe, referring to recent discoveries of what the government described as militant training camps.

Military sources in Rakhine State told Reuters they estimated the number of insurgents in the offensive was five-times the October attacks, with about 1,000 fighters likely to have taken part.

The ARSA group was formed by Rohingya living in Saudi Arabia after a bout of serious communal violence in 2012, according to the International Crisis Group.

Its leader, Ata Ullah, has said hundreds of young Rohingya men have joined the group, which claims to be waging a legitimate defence against the army and for human rights.

"We have been taking our defensive actions against the Burmese marauding forces in more than 25 different places across the region. More soon!," the group in a statement posted on a Twitter account believed to be linked to it.

The Friday attack encompassed both Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships in the remote northern part of the state - a much wider area compared with October.

The Myanmar military sources also said that while they were still trying to gather information from some areas, the fighting appeared to have subsided since dawn.

Over the last several months the government has accused the insurgents of instigating a campaign of terror against village chiefs and killing government informers, disrupting government information networks.

"The insurgents were able to organise such a huge attack because they were successful in organising the information blackout," said one of the military sources.

"It's an extremely serious situation which could lead to a major crisis. It's not easy to know what has happened, but it's clearly very worrying," said Yangon-based analyst and former U.N. diplomat in Myanmar Richard Horsey.

The attacks took place hours after a panel led by the former U.N. chief Kofi Annan advised the government on long-term solutions for the violence-riven state.

Annan's team said in a report Myanmar should respond to a crisis over its Muslim Rohingya community in a "calibrated" way without excessive force. </s> Bodies of policemen killed in an attack at the Yoe Ta Yoke police station.

YANGON: Arakan Army insurgents killed nine Myanmar policemen in the latest attack in the country's western Rakhine State, the government said yesterday, 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 policemen, all of them recruits from the village, were confirmed dead and one other was still missing.

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

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

A villager in his 50s told Reuters that two policemen stationed at the post survived the attack, which took place shortly after 11 pm local time.

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

The insurgent Arakan Army killed 13 policemen 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.

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 state. </s> At least 71 killed in Myanmar as Rohingya insurgents stage major attack

Muslim militants in Myanmar staged a coordinated attack on 30 police posts and an army base in Rakhine state on Friday, and at least 59 of the insurgents and 12 members of the security forces were killed, the army and government said.

The fighting - still going on in some areas - marked a major escalation in a simmering conflict in the northwestern state since last October, when similar attacks prompted a big military sweep beset by allegations of serious human rights abuses.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a group previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin, which instigated the October attacks, claimed responsibility for the early morning offensive, and warned of more.

The treatment of approximately 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya has emerged as majority Buddhist Myanmar’s most contentious human rights issue as it makes a transition from decades of harsh military rule.

It now appears to have spawned a potent insurgency which has grown in size, observers say.

They worry that the attacks - much larger and better organized than those in October - will spark an even more aggressive army response and trigger communal clashes between Muslims and Buddhist ethnic Rakhines.

A news team affiliated with the office of national leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said that one soldier, one immigration officer, 10 policemen and 59 insurgents had been killed in the fighting.

“In the early morning at 1 a.m., the extremist Bengali insurgents started their attack on the police post ... with the man-made bombs and small weapons,” said the army in a separate statement, referring to the Rohingya by a derogatory term implying they are interlopers from Bangladesh.

The militants also used sticks and swords and destroyed bridges with explosives, the army said.

The Rohingya are denied citizenship and are seen by many in Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite claiming roots in the region that go back centuries, with communities marginalized and occasionally subjected to communal violence. </s> Arakan Army insurgents killed nine Myanmar police in the latest attack in the country’s western Rakhine State, a local official said 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 village’s administrator San Aung Thein confirmed nine police were killed by the Arakan Army there, but said he did not have additional details about the attack.

Reuters was unable to reach police officials for comment.

The insurgent Arakan Army killed 13 police in a similar attack farther 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 50s told Reuters that two policemen stationed at the post survived the attack, which took place shortly after 11 p.m. local time.

“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.” </s> Armed men believed to be from the long-oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority launched a coordinated assault on three border police posts in the early hours Sunday, killing nine police, injuring five and making off with dozens of weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

Military personnel and police reinforcements have poured into the Muslim-majority township of Maungdaw, northern Rakhine State, and have clashed with groups of up to 300 men, armed with pistols, swords and knives, according to official reports.

Human rights groups and advocates for the stateless Rohingya have voiced concern that the civilian population may be caught up in the authorities' violent response.

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said that her government was "exercising the rule of law" in dealing with the attacks, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on Thursday.

Authorities had not yet confirmed who was behind the attacks, Suu Kyi said on Wednesday.

The military's official newspaper, Myawady, said that another 10 alleged attackers were killed, and a rifle was seized, in a clash on Tuesday morning at Kyetyoepyin village, Maungdaw Township.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, the military accused armed attackers of setting fire to 25 houses after an aborted attack on border police quarters in Kyikanpyin village, the site of one of Sunday's attacks.

The killings bring the total death toll in northern Rakhine State since Sunday to 39, including 13 security personnel.

The 26 alleged attackers reported killed include several who a local resident told Reuters were shot while unarmed and fleeing soldiers.

Campaign group Fortify Rights said on Wednesday it had received reports of extrajudicial killings in the area and called on Myanmar's government to "protect civilians regardless of religion or ethnicity."

Authorities have also detained four men, identified as local Muslims, who they allege were involved in the attacks.

The Rohingya bore the brunt of intercommunal clashes in Rakhine in 2012, in which more 100 people were killed. They make up most of the 125,000 people still living in displacement camps in Rakhine State and face severe restrictions on their movements. </s> Myanmar’s Information Ministry says nine policemen were killed in an attack in the western state of Rakhine by the increasingly active Arakan Army rebel group.

The ministry’s website said 60 Arakan Army insurgents on Saturday night attacked the police post, which was safeguarding question and answer sheets from the national high school matriculation examination.

The Arakan Army, which is aligned with Rakhine’s Buddhist population, seeks autonomy for the region. Rakhine is better known as the site of a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by the military against the Muslim Rohingya minority, causing more than 700,000 to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Attacks on police by Rohingya insurgents triggered the crackdown.

The government declared the Arakan Army a terrorist organization after it killed 13 police officers and wounded nine in Jan. 4 attacks. </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> 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.
Government officials in Myanmar report that 12 security personnel (ten policemen, one soldier and one immigration officer) and 59 Rohingya insurgents were killed overnight during coordinated attacks by insurgents on at least 26 police posts and an army base in Rakhine State.