NP News - Jan 5

Three high-rank army officers from the Arakan Liberation Party (#ALP) were shot by an unknown armed group on the way back from the Independence Day Ceremony.All three officers died on the spot in the #assassination.

One of them was General Khaing Soe Mra. He is a member of the Central Committee of the ALP and the Chief Commander of it. The other two are Lt. Col. Khaing Kyaw Soe, the commander of the No. 101 battalion, and Captain Khaing Thurein.The three were assassinated near the Compound Industry ward located in Sittwe, on their way of coming back from the 75th Anniversary of the country’s Independence Day on the morning of January 4, according to the source who was at the assassination scene.

The ceremony was convened at Waitharli Stadium in Sittwe.The committed armed group has not yet been identified and none of the groups claims responsibility for the assassination has been made.However, the ALP proclaims that the assassination was committed by the #Arakan_Army. The ALP strongly denounced the assassination that it ruins the Rakhine ethnic unity and it is a threat flaming fear within the Rakhine people, the ALP released a statement.

The ALP is a pro-peace ethnic armed force of Rakhine for the time being. It attended the peace talks' first round and second round that were held and invited by the State Administration Council in 2022.Currently, at least ten ALP members, including Lt. Col. Khaing Paw Lin, have been abducted by the Arakan Army.The ALP claims, “The ALP will get justice for the humiliation conducted by the Arakan Army of abducting, torturing, and killing the ALP members.”The Arakan Army has not commented anything on the assassination.It has been only one month since the ceasefire has been made between the Myanmar Military and the Arakan Army in Rakhine State after four months of fire exchange resumed.