Arakan Army rebels began an offensive against a junta police outpost on the Bangladesh border on Wednesday as Myanmar military forces responded with artillery fire, residents told Radio Free Asia.

The attack by the anti-junta Arakan Army, or AA, started at daylight, and fighting was still ongoing Wednesday evening at the outpost near Rakhine state’s Ywet Nyo Taung village, residents said.

There are only around 20 houses in the village, which is about 32 km (20 miles) north of the seat of Maungdaw township. Almost all residents have fled because of the fighting, a resident who requested anonymity for security reasons told RFA.

Bangladeshis who live close to the border with Rakhine reported hearing loud sounds from artillery fire nearby, according to BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

Some of the junta forces defending the Ywet Nyo Taung outpost had fled from the nearby Ngar Khu Ya border outpost after the AA attacked there on Sunday and drove a force of some 300 junta personnel from the area, the resident said.

“As much as we know, they are indecisive,” he said, referring to the junta troops and police officers now in Ywet Nyo Taung. “Some of them want to surrender to the AA but others do not.” 

Several hundred flee to Bangladesh

Since the Arakan Army ended a year-long ceasefire by launching an offensive on Nov. 13, 2023, the ethnic army has captured eight townships across Rakhine and one neighboring township in northern Chin state. 

In February, it seized a border outpost in Maungdaw township’s Taung Pyo Let Yar, about 48 km (30 miles) north of Ywet Nyo Taung.

That attack prompted nearly 60 fighters with the junta-affiliated Border Guard Force to flee toward the Bangladesh border.

Over the past week, about 260 Myanmar soldiers, border guards and citizens have taken shelter in Bangladesh, authorities told BenarNews. They crossed the border close to where fighting took place near the Ywet Nyo Taung and Ngar Khu Ya outposts.

Border Guard Bangladesh spokesman Shariful Islam told BenarNews that repatriation efforts have begun.

RFA attempted to contact Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson Hla Thein for comment on this week’s fighting in Maungdaw township, but he did not respond to phone calls.

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.