Fighting Intensifies in Sittwe, Leading to the Evacuation of Junta Ministers and High-Ranking Officials' Families to Yangon

News March 9, 2026

Junta Rakhine Chief-Minister and Sittwe Airport (photocrd)

Due to the escalating fighting around the Rakhine State capital, Sittwe, and its surrounding areas, family members of ministers and high-ranking government officials under the terrorist military council have been relocated to Yangon via aircraft from Sittwe Airport, according to local news sources.

Those being relocated are only the families of the ministers and high-ranking government officials, while the ministers and officials themselves remain in Sittwe, according to sources in Sittwe.

"The ministers are still there. The ones being moved are the ministers' families. They are no longer here. They have all been relocated to Yangon. All families of state-level government officials have been moved. The families of the Commerce Minister and the Social Affairs Minister have also been relocated recently. Almost all of them have gone," as reported in the Narinjara news.

The Arakan Army has surrounded and blockaded Sittwe town, launching offensives and attacks, causing intense fighting. The terrorist military council side is also indiscriminately shelling the areas around the town with heavy weapons and drones, leading to heavy weapon impacts and explosions occurring almost everywhere in the town, according to a Sittwe news source.

Although commercial flights are still operating, they are no longer flying nearly every day as before. If the fighting intensifies further from now, the air routes could be closed, so it is possible that they have urgently relocated their families in advance, sources say.

"There is no place to run, no place to stay. People are just taking shelter by clinging to monasteries. Gunfire sounds are gradually being heard closer to the town, and everyone is extremely worried and living in constant fear," said one displaced woman.

Currently, ordinary civilians and displaced people in Sittwe are being trapped and used as human shields by the terrorist military council, while the families of high-ranking government officials and military officers have been urgently evacuated from Sittwe to Yangon, according to reports.

source@welovepaletwa