Arakan Army denies ARSA link

09 January 2019
Arakan Army denies ARSA link
Photo: Arakan Army

The Arakan Army has denied that it is allied with a Rohingya Muslim terrorist group and objected to a Myanmar government spokesman’s warning to its supporters not to back the insurgent group after it conducted deadly attacks on police outposts in northern Rakhine state last week, RFA reported.

At a news conference on Monday, President’s Office spokesman Zaw Htay accused the AA of having ties to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a Muslim terrorist group that in August 2017 launched deadly assaults on 30 police outposts and an army base in northern Rakhine state.

In a statement on its website and Facebook page, the AA said Zaw Htay’s statements were inappropriate, viewing them as an attempt by the government and the military to stir up misunderstanding between the Arakan military group’s allies and ethnic Rakhine support base.