Muslim Armed Groups Infiltrate Maungdaw Township Simultaneously with Military Junta Airstrikes

News ၊ July 3, 2026

The Myanmar military Junta has been launching increasingly frequent and consecutive aerial bombing attacks since the last week of June on Maungdaw, the western border town of Arakan.

On the morning of June 24, the terrorist Myanmar military used a jet fighter to drop two 500-pound bombs near the former Border Ethnic Youth Development School inside Maungdaw town. This incident marks the first aerial attack by the Myanmar military since local residents returned to live in Maungdaw town.

Subsequently, on July 1 at around 10:00 PM, the terrorist Myanmar military launched a second aerial assault on Maungdaw town and its vicinity, using two jet fighters and a Y-12 military transport aircraft to drop no fewer than 30 bombs. Yesterday, on July 2, they also bombed a prisoner of war detention camp in Kyein Chaung, Maungdaw Township.

Coincidentally, on the other hand, during the days when the terrorist Myanmar military has been continuously bombing Maungdaw town, there has been an increasingly frequent and timed infiltration into Maungdaw Township by terrorist Islamic extremist militant armed groups.

A few days after the first aerial bombing of Maungdaw town, on June 29, movements of infiltrating extremist Islamic armed groups were detected near Gring Taw village in Maungdaw Township.

Similarly, on July 1, their activities were spotted near Taungpyo Mee Taik village in northern Maungdaw. Consequently, the Arakan Army (AA) conducted clearance operations, killing some members of the terrorist armed groups and seizing several bodies, along with walkie-talkies and food supplies, according to reports.

Likewise, on the morning dawn of yesterday, July 2 the day after the terrorist Myanmar military bombed Maungdaw town for the second time locals spotted some members of terrorist Muslim armed groups attempting to sneak across the border near Ywet Nu village and near the mouth of Gring Taw creek in southern Maungdaw.

A Rakhine political and military analyst told that these incidents where terrorist Islamic extremist armed groups are making incursions into Maungdaw Township at the exact same time the terrorist Myanmar military is launching consecutive bombing attacks on Maungdaw town are not mere coincidences or ordinary events.

Instead, it is a coordinated effort by the terrorist Myanmar military and the terrorist Islamic extremist armed groups to infiltrate in harmony and time their actions to attack the Arakan Army, as well as an attempt to launch terrorist attacks against the local civilian population.

The terrorist Myanmar military lost its last remaining Border Guard Force Base No. 5 in Maungdaw Township to the Arakan Army (AA) on December 8, 2024, after which the Arakan Army captured the entire Maungdaw Township.

After the Arakan Army (AA) captured Maungdaw Township and local residents returned to live there, the terrorist Myanmar military had refrained from bombing Maungdaw town, unlike other areas controlled by the Arakan Army. However, they began conducting these bombing operations starting from June 24.

Islamic extremist armed groups, based and operating out of Muslim refugee camps in Bangladesh, have repeatedly carried out ambush attacks and kidnappings against local civilians and travelers in northern Maungdaw on numerous occasions.

Source@ONN