Buddhist army kills seven in Independence day attack in Myanmar

Seven Myanmar security forces were killed in attacks by Buddhist Rakhine fighters on four police posts in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state on Friday as the country marked Independence Day, spokesmen for the military and the armed group said.

Arakan Army spokesman Khine Thu Kha said that the group attacked four police posts and later retrieved the corpses of seven "enemies". Twelve members of the Myanmar security forces were also detained by the group.

The recent fighting with the Arakan Army had forced 2,500 civilians to flee their homes by the end of last year, according to the United Nations.

Hundreds and thousands of Rohingya Muslims have also been fleeing into the bordering nation of Bangladesh ever since the brutal military-led crackdown in 2017.

The western state has been torn by violence once again since early December when fighting intensified between government forces and the Arakan Army, which wants more autonomy for the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic minority.

The attacks were a response to a Myanmar military offensive against the Arakan Army in recent weeks that had also targeted civilians, he said.

The Myanmar military last month announced a four-month halt in fighting in the north and northeast of the country to kick-start peace talks with multiple armed groups fighting for ethnic autonomy, but that announcement excluded Rakhine.

Myanmar state media earlier reported an attack by the same group on Tuesday that seriously injured one policeman.

Myanmar military spokesman Zaw Min Tun told that security forces were responding to Friday’s attacks, which targeted police posts in the northern parts of Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, a rugged area near the border with Bangladesh.

“The military will continue its operations in the area for security,” he said, declining to confirm how many people were killed and captured by the armed group.

Zaw Min Tun said the attacks began minutes after the national flag was raised across Myanmar to mark 71 years since independence from Britain.