Projectile event in Sittwe area, Myanmar on Fri 4th September 2026

Military sources say that heavy fighting has been taking place between the military junta and the Arakan Army (AA) in Sittwe Township, Rakhine State, since the morning of September 4.

Fighting resumed this morning after the military junta launched four jet fighter jets to bomb Sittwe, Ponnagyun, and Rathedaung townships yesterday afternoon.

A local military source said, “The fighting in Sittwe has been going on since this morning. The fighting is quite intense. Both sides are firing at each other with heavy weapons, small arms, and drones. Yesterday, the military began airstrikes, and the two sides began to clash.”

Military sources say that the military junta's headquarters in Sittwe began shelling villages bordering Sittwe and Ponnagyun Township with heavy weapons this morning, followed by the AA returning fire.

A woman from Sittwe said, “Yesterday, a plane dropped bombs, and this morning, we started hearing the sounds of heavy weapons and small arms. Earlier in the morning, we heard gunfire. The ground was shaking. We don’t know where they are. The residents are watching the situation with anxiety as fighting has resumed.”

The Arakan Army (AA) is fighting against the military junta's offensives in the Sittwe and Kyaukphyu fronts in Rakhine State, as well as in the Ayeyarwady, Bago, Magway, and Chin states.

Locals say that some men captured by the military dictatorship in Sittwe Township are being transferred to the Regional Command for Disarmament (RCD) and used in frontline combat roles.

“They put the captured people in the front lines. And then they put them in places where they were needed. Digging trenches, building bunkers. Those places were the real front lines. The military council soldiers were afraid that if they did that, they would be shot by the AA, so they put these captured locals to work.

Sittwe residents say that since fighting resumed in Sittwe on November 13, 2023, residents, including those from urban areas, have been arrested almost daily, sent for interrogation, and used in the fighting.

“They are arrested by military councils regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or religion. Most of them are then given military training in Sittwe military bases. Then they are sent to the front.”

The military dictatorship is continuously building up its military forces in Sittwe, and is expanding and building forward bases in Shwe Min Gan and the high island.