Arakan News Desk: Myanmar junta aircraft and gunboats bombarded the island town of Ramree in Ramree Township, Rakhine State on Monday, killing a resident and burning civilian buildings, according to a resistance group and locals.
The junta’s bombardment of civilian targets came after a clash with ethnic Rakhine armed group the Arakan Army (AA) outside the town.
The Brotherhood Alliance comprising the AA, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) said AA troops engaged in a clash with regime forces stationed at the hilltop pagoda of Aung Chan Thar, 200 meters to the south of Ramree town on Monday morning.
During the fighting, the junta used drones and gunboats to attack the AA troops, but the resistance fighters were still able to kill four regime troops and seize weapons and ammunition.
In the afternoon, a junta fighter jet and two helicopter gunships attacked Ramree town and villages nearby. As a result of the bombardments, civilian houses and a row of fuel shops were destroyed by fire.
A senior citizen from the residential ward of Laung Chaung in the town was killed and two children were injured in the junta aerial attacks. Also, a male resident was seriously injured when junta aircraft attacked Nyaung Pin Hla Village nearby, said the Brotherhood Alliance.
In the afternoon, a junta warplane and gunboats continued to attack the town until 5 p.m., local media outlet Western News reported, citing residents.
Some 80 percent of the town’s population of 8,000 fled on Monday due to the junta’s heavy bombardment of civilian targets, according to local media reports.
The town’s remaining residents have been urged to leave by the AA as the military regime was expected to continue its indiscriminate bombing of residential areas, another local media outlet, Narinjara, reported, citing Ramree residents.
The Brotherhood Alliance has been conducting the massive, coordinated offensive dubbed Operation 1027 across northern Shan State since Oct. 27, inflicting heavy losses on the military regime. Dozens of resistance groups are coordinating with the operation, escalating attacks on regime targets across the country.
Starting on Nov. 13, the AA widened the operation by launching attacks on regime targets across northern Rakhine State, abandoning the informal ceasefire it agreed with the regime a year ago.
The AA recently said that so far it had seized 142 junta bases, police stations and border outposts across northern Rakhine State and in Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State during Operation 1027.
