Battle News in Arakan on 20, 21 and 22 July 2020
22 July 2020
(The Burmese invading force (Myanmar Army) violates the Geneva Conventions, the Genocide Convention and the provisional measure ordered by the ICJ)
Myanmar Army has been launching the massive offensive assaults with heavy artillery, aerial bombardment, and excessive force against our troops in the environs of Aung-Thar-Si (Aung Thar Zay) in Rathedaung Township, Arakan since 16 July 2020.
On 20, 21, and 22 July 2020, the Myanmar Army focused on artillery fire rather than ground offensive assaults. Occasionally, although they tried to launch offensive attacks from the ground, the enemy was unable to advance because of the Arakan Army's best defense.
The Myanmar Army has been suffering heavy casualties and the number of Myanmar troops deserting along with a lack of fighting-will is on the rise during the week-long constant offensives. At least 50 Myanmar soldiers have been killed during a week of clearance operations of the Kyauk-Tan village tract.
At the same time, the Myanmar Army has been escalating the major offensive assaults in the environs of Rathedaung (Kyauk-Tan) and Minbya (Hpa-Pyo), using not only heavy artillery fire but also the weapons that had not been used in Arakan and other battlefields. We did our best to defend the enemy's offensive attacks and seized some of the enemy corpses and ammunition.
At about 9 pm on 20 July 2020, the clashes broke out between mobile columns of Arakan Army and a group of five military vehicles loaded with war criminals and brigands of the Myanmar Army, who were involved in committing war crimes, the crime of ethnic cleansing, sabotage acts, terrorizing the civilian population of Arakan and the massacre of innocent local inhabitants everywhere in Arakan on the Yangon-Sittwe Highway Road nearby Hpa-Pyo (Chin) and Hpa-Pyo (Arakan) villages in Minbya township and the fighting also continued with the enemy troops in three other areas throughout the night.
The Arakan Army was able to effectively attack two of the five enemy vehicles and the other three were also effective in damage, though not all. According to the captives and our Arrakha soldiers, at least 50 war criminals have been killed and possibly more than 20 others have been wounded. Military equipment and ammunitions from the enemy vehicles were seized and some of our Arrakha soldiers and heroes have sacrificed their lives for the fatherland of Arakan and the Arakanese people from our side.
On 21 and 22 July 2020, the fighting intensively continued to ramp up in the northern and eastern mountain ranges of Hpa-Pyo village due to the fact that the Myanmar Army was reinforcing its troops and weapons to battlefields. There were also mass casualties on the enemy side.
This is a translation from Burmese into English of the Statement issued by the date on 22 July 2020 https://bit.ly/2CtACAb
Due to the fact that the Myanmar Army has been suffering heavy losses in Rahtedaung and Minbya townships, they blindly fired heavy artilleries from Thitpottaung Naval Base in Kyaukphyu township without any fighting in that area between 5:10 pm and 6:10 pm on 21 July 2020 and the artillery shells exploded in the environs of Saymaw, Saittaw, and Kran Chein villages of Kyaukphyu township.
The Myanmar Army conducted similar attacks nearby Pyaday village on 30 June 2020. On the same day, The Myanmar Army laid siege to the both sides of Pyaday village and not only threatened the villagers with weapons but also opened fire inside the village.
The Clearance Operations or the Genocide Campaign that the Myanmar Army has been conducting against all the Arakan’s inhabitants in Arakan is intentional, well-planned and systemic scorched-earth operation, which blatantly violates the Geneva conventions, the genocide convention, and the provisional measure ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). We exhort the international community, international organizations and other concerned policy makers to take concerted action to bring to justice those responsible for gross violations of human rights, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Arakan.
Although we have been refraining from fighting not to break out, such clashes were intensively accelerated because the Myanmar Army has been continuously launching the massive offensive attacks everywhere in Arakan.
Info-Desk
Arakan Army
