- Web Master
- October 26, 2024
Narinjara News, August 1, 2024
Junta troops and militia members forcibly entered and robbed
the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) office in Bohmu Village in Maungdaw
Township’s Myoma Kanyintan Ward in Arakan (Rakhine) State, on 25 July 2024.
A security guard from Maungdaw Township told Narinjara that
around 70 armed people broke into the Red Cross office, vandalised it and
looted medicine and office supplies.
He said: “The intruders were junta troops and affiliated
militiamen. I'm not sure why they did it. Maybe they needed the medicine, but
they also took other items from the office. There were about 70 of them in
total.”
The staff at the Red Cross Office had already been evacuated in June when fighting got close to downtown Maungdaw and the Arakan Army (AA) launched an offensive against the Maungdaw Town-based Military Operations Command No. 5 (MOC-5).
Bhomu Village remains under junta control. Due to ongoing
fighting, non governmental organisation (NGO) and international non
governmental organisation (INGO) offices in the area have closed, and staff
have been evacuated for their own safety.
A displaced person from Buthidaung, also in Arakan (Rakhine)
State, said that junta troops had behaved in a similar way in Buthidaung,
vandalising and burning NGO and INGO offices.
He said: “They [the junta] did the same thing in Maungdaw as
they did in Buthidaung, destroying NGO and INGO offices. If they can't be
stopped, they will destroy everything. I hope the AA can take over Maungdaw
soon.”
The AA attack on MOC-5 in Maungdaw Town is ongoing and there
is fierce fighting between them and the junta troops supported by fighters from
the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation
Army (ARSA) who are defending MOC-5.
The junta has also been hitting the AA attackers with
airstrikes and artillery fire from navy vessels in the NAF River.
Most Maungdaw residents fled when the fighting began. Only a
few have stayed behind to guard their homes.