A clash has been reported between the Arakan Army (AA) and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in Buthidaung Township, Rakhine State, with both sides suffering casualties.

Residents said fierce fighting took place on Wednesday in the Mayu mountains near Sein Hnyin Pyar and Gu Dar Pyin villages.

Five ARSA fighters were killed and an outpost was seized. The AA seized weapons. I heard one AA member was killed and two injured, an AA source told The Irrawaddy.

Neither side has commented on the fighting and The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Rakhine media reported that fighting began when ARSA troops entered AA territory in the Mayu mountains.

The fighting sparked fears of an escalation among Muslim and Buddhist communities.

ARSA, a Rohingya militant group, first emerged in 2016 when it reportedly attacked three police outposts in Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships and on police posts in northern Rakhine State in 2017, killing around 12 officers.

The military retaliated with massive clearance operations against Rohingya villages, prompting an exodus of nearly a million Rohingya to Bangladesh.

ARSA now operates along the border and inside Bangladesh refugee camps. It has later come under fire after the killings of Rohingya community leaders in the refugee camps.

A Muslim representative said ARSA was facing declining support among Muslims and no longer infiltrated the Bangladeshi refugee camps like before.

The Bangladeshi authorities have launched a probe and were hunting the group, with its leader, Ataullah abu Ammar Jununi, reportedly in hiding in Buthidaung Township.

Formed in 2009, the AA has been fighting Myanmars military in Rakhine State on and off since 2015 for Rakhine self-determination. It is backed by Rakhines population and was inflicting heavy casualties in Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State until an informal ceasefire was agreed in late 2020.

The AA has since set up its own administration and judiciary across much of Rakhine State.

However, fighting resumed in August 2022. A temporary ceasefire was agreed in November but tensions with the regime remain high.

A Myanmar junta airstrike has hit a Kachin State village near where regime troops have been fighting the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) since last month.

Three jet fighters bombed Nam San Yang village, which was previously controlled by the KIA about 9km from its Laiza headquarters, on Friday night.

No casualties were reported as villagers fled last month, according to KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu.

Some livestock were killed and houses and an administration office were destroyed.

The KIA on Thursday attacked junta reinforcements from Bhamo Township at La Gyar Yang village in Momauk Township.

The village is on the Myitkyina-Bhamo road, about 22km south of Nam San Yang.

On Thursday, we shelled their troops from Bhamo for about 20 minutes, said Col Naw Bu.

The Kachin media reported heavy junta losses. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Col Naw Bu reported that about 1,000 junta troops were stuck between Nam San Yang and Nalone villages, trying to shell the KIAs headquarters.

So we shelled them back every day. Tensions are high and we have to stay alert, he said.

This week, junta reinforcements have come from the Military Operations Command in Bhamo Township along the Myitkyina road towards Laiza.

Former army captain, U Htet Myat, who joined the civil disobedience movement, served in Kachin State before his defection. He predicted a defeat for the junta forces because of the KIAs military strength.

It seems the junta thinks it is easy to fight the KIA. But its not that easy at all, as we saw back in 2021, said Captain Htet Myat.

He added that the regime commanders involved were cowards with little military skill.

Myanmar junta troops killed 11 civilians and three resistance fighters in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region, on Friday, according to residents.

Troops stationed in Yinmabin town raided Sone Chaung village before dawn on Saturday and beheaded three Bo Tun Tauk Peoples Defense Force members, who were guarding the village.

They then killed 11 male villagers, the group said.

First, we found the bodies of the three fighters in the village center. The other bodies were spread around. Some had been tortured, said a villager.

Other villagers were taken away and their condition is unknown. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

The three resistance fighters were named Ko Pyae Phyo Tun, Ko Sai Thu San and Ko Nay Min Tun.

The civilians killed were U Myo Myint Oo, U Kyaw Oo, U Yan Naing Soe, U Swe Gyi, U Aung Win Swe, U Naing Min, U Tote Kyi, U Lwin Moe Tun, U Htay Zaw, U Phoe Aung and U Aung Zaw Win, according to the resistance group.

Pro-junta Telegram channels released the same names but said they were all resistance fighters.

A funeral was held yesterday and the 14 bodies were cremated together.

Dr Sasa, the National Unity Governments minister for international cooperation, posted on Facebook that the Yinmabin atrocity was one of around 80 massacres committed by the junta since the 2021 coup.

The genocidal military junta hides behind secrecy, evading international scrutiny. But we cannot remain silent observers; we must take decisive action now, he said.

Dr Sasa, known by only one name, called on the international community to cut the flow of money, weapons and legitimacy to the junta.

Let us stand in solidarity with the loved ones, families and villagers of Yinmabin during this heart-wrenching time, deliberately created by the genocidal junta and supported by their partners in crime, he said.

In March at least four civilians in Kone village, Yinmabin Township, were killed by junta troops after they torched the village.

Police have been unable to perform their primary duty of law enforcement since the coup as they have been busy helping the Myanmar military impose a crackdown on dissidents. The resulting lawlessness has allowed criminal gangs and allied human traffickers to thrive in areas controlled by ethnic armed organizations on the Myanmar-China border.

Human traffickers have expanded their network to major cities like Yangon and Mandalay, key border towns including Lashio and Tachilek, and even Sagaing and Magwe regions in central Myanmar, which is experiencing fierce fighting between junta and resistance forces. Here, they lure young people with the promise of high-paying jobs, before trafficking them to Wa State, an autonomous enclave in northeastern Myanmar controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA).

At least 350 people were trafficked in Wa State from February 2021 to May 2023, according to data compiled by the UWSA, Thai authorities, news agencies in northern Shan State, and The Irrawaddy.

Among those trafficked were young people from Yangon, Mandalay, Lashio, Kyaukme, Hsipaw, Sagaing and Magwe as well citizens from fellow ASEAN countries including the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Indonesia, and from Russia. This figure only represents those who have been rescued or sought help. The actual number of trafficked victims is likely to be far higher.

Wa State

Wa State, officially the Wa Self-Administered Division, is located in northern Shan State on the border with China.

The UWSA is headquartered in Panghsan, and the self-administered division is made up of Mongmao, Monglin and M...

Indian road diplomacy

Ties between Myanmars military regime and neighboring India are deepening despite international condemnation of the juntas atrocities against its own civilians.

On Sunday, junta foreign minister Than Swe attended the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation meeting in Bangkok and held talks with his Indian counterpart Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on speedy completion of the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway.

Construction of the highway is around 70 percent complete. Following the meeting with Than Swe, the Indian minister expressed concerns via Twitter that instability in Myanmar could disrupt the highways construction. The two ministers also discussed the India-funded Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project in Myanmar.

On Thursday, Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Vinay Kumar paid a call on the juntas international cooperation minister Ko Ko Hlaing in Naypyitaw to discuss construction of the trilateral highway.

In November last year, Indias Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra flew to Myanmar to hold talks with junta boss Min Aung Hlaing on the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport project. Min Aung Hlaing has called India a good neighbor and is pushing for rapid implementation of the project. Sittwe port, which is part of the Kaladan Project, was opened in the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe on May 9.

China seeking law leverage

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The Arakan Army (AA) has warned that Myanmars regime is risking an armed conflict in Rakhine State by violating a ceasefire agreement.

The military and AA engaged in fierce fighting from late 2018 to November 2020. After approximately 18 months of relative calm, the two sides clashed again from August to November last year before declaring an unofficial truce after mediation by Yohei Sasakawa, Japans special envoy to Myanmar.

The ceasefire came after the junta blockaded main roads and waterways in northern Rakhine for more than two months, blocking food and medicine supplies.

Farmers also could not harvest rice in parts of the state because of indiscriminate junta shelling.

The ceasefire was agreed on humanitarian grounds and the regime agreed to stop arrests, release innocent civilians and lift travel restrictions, AA spokesman Khaing Thukha told The Irrawaddy.

The regime has violated the agreement. It has imprisoned civilians on terrorism charges, he said.

The regime has detainees charged under Unlawful Association Act or Counterterrorism Law over alleged ties to the AA.

A senior clerk from Thandwe District General Administration Department was given a two-year sentence on July 7 for sedition. He was detained in November last year and charged under the Unlawful Association Act.

Six Taungup Township residents were sentenced by the junta-controlled Thandwe District Court on July 11 to four years in prison under the Counterterrorism Law.

Buthidaung Township Court last week charged two village administrators under the Unlawful Association Act over alleged ties to the AA.

They were detained last September.

We constantly ask for their release. It is totally unacceptable that they are jailing them despite our requests. The regime must stop this, otherwise it might lead to armed conflict, he told The Irrawaddy.

The regime continues to restrict the delivery of goods by roads and waterways in the state with approval needed from the juntas security and border affairs minister to bring goods into Rakhine State.

Tensions rose when junta troops attempted to enter AA territory in Rathedaung and Kyauktaw townships on the pretext of delivering aid after Cyclone Mocha, said residents. The majority of victims have received little humanitarian aid since the storm in May.

Rakhine politician U Pe Than said: Myanmars military is seeking to survey AA areas on the pretext of helping the victims of Cyclone Mocha. They were trying to survey the area for military reasons.

But they dont really want to fight the AA. There are checkpoints manned by the AA on public roads and the regime could attack them if it wants a fight.

Observers say fighting is possible at any time with no concrete political agreement.

During the latest fighting in Rakhine, the regime has prosecuted around 100 people with most verdicts still pending amid complaints of une...

A teacher who ran an online school opposed to military rule was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday by a Myanmar junta court at Obo Prison in Mandalay, according to lawyers.

Daw Ei Shwe Sin Myint was head of the Federal School of Aung Myay Thar Zan in Aungmyaythazan Township, Mandalay Region, in cooperation with the civilian National Unity Government (NUG).

She was charged with terrorism at Aungmyaythazan District Court and tried by a special court in the prison. She was given 20 years. There are also co-defendants. I dont know their sentences, a lawyer told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.

The school was opened in February 2022, a year after the coup, for families that rejected education under the junta with classes from primary to lower-secondary levels.

Four teachers, including Daw Ei Shwe Sin Myint, were arrested on March 22 last year. The school was subsequently closed.

Junta newspapers in April last year reported that 15 teachers, aged 20 to 40, were arrested for unlawfully teaching at the instruction of the NUG.

The reports warned that those who financed the school, collaborated with it and the parents would also face prosecution.

The schools were not NUG-run but rather community schools emerging from cooperation between teachers who joined the civil disobedience movement (CDM), children and parents, said a striking high-school teacher.

Community schools were opened to provide education for all and set up a federal education system to challenge the military dictatorship and its education. But people who have forcibly seized power with weapons say the schools are unlawful, she said.

While some schools are online, in some parts of Sagaing Region and ethnic-minority areas where resistance forces have replaced junta administration, children can study in community schools.

The regime makes sure striking teachers do not work at private schools.

A striking lecturer from Yadanabon University: It is quite ugly to arrest and imprison those teaching children. It is against the law. Teachers have been officially dismissed for joining the CDM. And it is extrajudicial bullying to arrest them for teaching outside public schools.

Veteran democracy activist Ko Mya Aye, a former 88 Generation student leader and now a leader of the political organization Federal Democratic Force, was among the first people to have their homes surrounded and to be detained at gunpoint during the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. He was jailed by the junta and only released in a mass amnesty in November 2022. The democracy activist had already been jailed on two earlier occasions by former military juntas for his political activism after the 1988 uprising.

The Irrawaddy recently talked with him to get his views on the current situation in the country more than two years after the coup attempt, as well as on federalism and the juntas use of jailed leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to conduct hostage diplomacy.

What do you think of the junta-arranged meeting between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai? Do you see it as the juntas attempt to reduce the pressure on it, both internal and external?

There has been much debate over Daw Aung San Suu Kyis words [at the meeting] and this has had a great impact. But I think it is still difficult to know whether this statement [Dons statement claiming that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi called for negotiations with the junta] is true [truly reflects her words] or not. Politics depends on principles and the stands that we take. It can...

Three resistance fighters were killed and two more were injured on Wednesday when Magwe Region resistance groups attacked a pro-junta village in southern Pauk Township.

Fierce fighting began at about 5am when several resistance groups jointly attacked Tat Kone Villagethe base of a pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia and a military unit.

We were attacked first by the regime forces while we were approaching the village. Three resistance members were killed by a junta explosive, Ko Nay Lone, a leader of Pakokku District Peoples Defense Force, told the Irrawaddy on Friday.

Two other resistance members were injured.

Two regime forces were also killed in the clash and at least 11 others were injured.

The Irrawaddy could not independently confirm casualty figures.

The junta also conducted a 45-minute airstrike on resistance forces with a Mi-35 attack helicopter, but no resistance fighters were injured in the airstrike, said the Chauk Guerilla Force, which joined the resistance raid.  One of its members suffered a leg injury. The resistance group said they were unable to enter the village.

Local resistance groups said that at least 23 villages in southern Pauk Township have been looted and incinerated by regime forces and Pyu Saw Htee militia groups based in pro-junta villages, including Tat Kone.

On July 11, a combined force of resistance groups raided the pro-junta villages of Tat Kone and Ywar Thit, torching junta bases and the houses of militia leaders.

At least 10 regime forces and militia members were killed in the raid in which the junta also used a Mi-35 helicopter in an attempt to repel resistance forces.

Five civilians, including a child, were killed and seven injured in indiscriminate junta shelling in Khin-U Township in the resistance stronghold of Sagaing Region over five days.

Two villagers died on the spot and three sustained injuries when a shell hit Mu Thar village on Thursday morning, according to a volunteer.

A woman in her 20s and a man in his 40s were killed by the junta bombardment, a volunteer said.

Thousands of residents are taking shelter in monasteries and schools amid frequent raids, arson attacks and artillery strikes by junta forces.

We dont dare to stay in our homes at night. We only return to get food during the daytime, a villager said.

Schools have been shut for a week and at least 5,000 residents from seven villages had fled their homes in western Khin-U by Thursday.

On Wednesday, shelling targeted civilian targets in western Khin-U, killing two residents, including a six-year-old, in Thet Pay village, according to a villager.

A boy and his uncle died on the spot. His mother and another two relatives were injured when their house was shelled, he said.

A junta base in Ye-U Township has been shelling Khin-U since Sunday when a junta infantry unit passed through the area, heading towards Ye-U.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

On July 16, a displaced villager was killed and one injured in Inn Pat village during a bombardment.

There has been no fighting reported with resistance forces in Khin-U Township during the past week.

Around 5,500 houses from 75 villages have reportedly been incinerated by junta infantry in the township since the 2021 coup.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on six more Myanmar junta officials and one junta-controlled entity, citing the escalation in violence and grave human rights violations since the 2021 military coup.

The fresh sanctions announced on Thursday target the ministers for immigration and population, labor, and health and sports, two members of the State Administration Council (SAC), the Quartermaster General, and the No. 2 Mining Enterprise (ME 2), a state-owned enterprise controlled by and generating revenue for the Myanmar Armed Forces.

The targets are subject to an asset freeze and travel ban that prevents them from entering or transiting through EU territory, said the EU announcement.

In addition, EU persons and entities are prohibited to make funds available to those listed, it added.

The EU imposed sanctions on junta health and sports minister, Dr. Thet Khaing Win, under whose authority hundreds of doctors have been fired for political reasons and had their licenses revoked, while private hospitals were urged not to hire doctors who refused to work in public hospitals under the military regime. He also rebuffed UN Humanitarian Office (UNOCHA) requests for aid access during the pandemic, it said.

Junta labor minister Pwint San was also targeted in Thursdays sanctions since under his authority, the rights of workers especially those affiliated with the opposition movement are being systematically violated, it said.

The labor minister has facilitated imports of oil and other goods necessary to sustain the regimes power, while his ministry is aggravating disruption of supplies within the country by imposing import controls and restricting the transfer of remittances, it added.

Meanwhile, junta minister for immigration and population Myint Kyaing is supporting repressive regime policies, including restrictions on citizens travel within the country and ongoing human rights violations against ethnic-minority Rohingya, the EU said. He has also participated in preparations for the planned election aimed at legitimizing the militarys illegal coup of February 2021, it added.

Lieutenant General Kyaw Swar Linn, the Quartermaster General the sixth most-senior post in the military is involved in procuring weapons and other military equipment for the Myanmar Armed Forces, it stated.

Kyaw Swar Lin also runs the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), which is one of two major conglomerates operated by and generating revenue for the military, it added.

The two SAC members included on the new sanctions list are Porel Aung Thein, who is also a member of the militarys proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party, and Aung Kyaw Min, the former chief minister of Rakhine State.

EU sanctions currently apply to a total of 99 individuals and 19 entities in Myanmar.

The EU has also imposed an embargo on exports of arms and military equipment, as well as item...

The soft launch of Spring Development Bank (SDB) will begin on Saturday as part of the National Unity Government (NUG)s effort to fund the revolution and block financial flows to the junta, Myanmars shadow government announced on Thursday.

Its Ministry of Planning, Finance, and Investment (MOPFI) and the interim central bank have been preparing for seven months to establish the bank, which will become Myanmars first financial institution to run entirely on crypto and blockchain.

Plans are underway to open SDB branches or agency access points in major liberated areas, said Minister of Planning, Finance, and Investment U Tin Tun Naing.

The soft launch will focus on user acceptance testing, said U Tin Tun Naing, who is also governor of the interim central bank.

He said that the junta had been making threats about peoples bank accounts and violating public privacy despite banking rules prohibiting this.

MOPFI is also responsible for protecting the financial security and privacy of people. Therefore, this is also our purpose in establishing a banking system and an independent financial mechanism, he explained.

SDB is licensed and regulated by the Interim Central Bank of Myanmar and it will operate with an agency banking network at the initial stage. It will use blockchain technology on a polygon network, according to the MOPFI.

When services commence, customers will be able to use four currencies: Myanmars kyat, US and Singaporean dollars, and the Thai baht. MOPFI has planned to deliver the services of the bank in three phases.

In Phase 1, the bank will start providing services including currency exchange and Swap services, account transfers, cross-country remittances, digital gold savings, and purchases of the NUGs End of Dictatorship products.

In Phase 2, the bank will add more currencies, including the British pound, the euro, the Korean won and the Japanese yen. SDB will also expand services and products to include merchant payments, digital debit cards, SWIFT links and corresponding accounts, individual loans to the revolution, and swap NUG bonds.

SDP CEO Calvin T. said that the ministry prioritizes the security and privacy of customers using the banking system, but that SDB will still comply with know your customer standards.

Bank staff will not ask for unnecessary personal information, he said, explaining that only very basic information will be required for customers to use the bank. SDPs CEO Calvin T. said users of the bank can remain anonymous.

In December 2021, the NUG declare Tether USDT (a US dollar-pegged stable coin) as an official currency for local use and a legal tender in a bid to speed up international trade. In June 2022, the MOPFI launched its own digital currency, DMMK, as well as the NUGPay application. DMMKs val...

At least 31 Myanmar junta forces including pro-junta militia members as well as three resistance fighters were killed in four days of clashes as Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs) continued to attack regime targets across the country.

Incidents were reported in Kachin and Chin states and Sagaing, Magwe, Mandalay and Bago regions.

The Irrawaddy has rounded up the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs.

Some military casualties could not be independently verified.

Military unit ambushed with land mines in Kachin

At least 10 junta troops were killed and 15 others seriously injured in Shwegu Township, Kachin State on Thursday when Myohla PDF group triggered improvised land mines to ambush a military unit of 100 troops raiding villages along the bank of the Irrawaddy River, the PDF group said.

After the ambush, injured soldiers and the bodies of killed soldiers were transported to a junta base in Shwegu town on motorboats.

Pro-junta militia members killed in Bago

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