Though the Arakan Army (AA) halted its offensives in Arakan (Rakhine) State’s Sittwe and Kyaukphyu townships on 30 March 2025, following the 28 March earthquake, the junta continued attacking AA positions there with airstrikes and naval artillery until 2 April.
A military analyst in Kyaukphyu Township said to DMG: “The AA started slowing down operations after the 28 March earthquake and then suspended offensives in the following days. But the junta kept firing unilaterally until 2 April.”
On 31 March, the junta navy shelled Zinchaung Konebway Village in Kyaukphyu Township, killing a monk and a man and injuring seven others.
Then on the evening of 2 April, the junta announced a 20-day ceasefire that would run from 2 to 22 April, during which time it claimed it would halt all offensive military actvities and only fight in self-defence.
But before making this announcement, on the morning of 2 April, the junta bombed areas near Sittaw and Kubarlar villages in Kyaukphyu Township with drones, whilst navy ships moored offshore fired artillery into the villages, between 9:00 am and 11:00 am.
The junta also continued firing artillery into Sittwe Township from army battalion bases and naval warships after 2 April, when it had announced the ceasefire would start.
The aforementioned military analalyst said: “Junta battalions in downtown Sittwe sometimes shell the outskirts and parts of the town with artillery. Warships also launch attacks from time to time.”
Also on 2 April, after the junta’s announcement of a ceasefire, it shelled Kachin Independence Army (KIA) positions in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State.
On 1 April, prior to the junta’s 2 April ceasefire, the Three Brotherhood Alliance, of which the AA is a member, announced a halt to all military activities apart from cases of self defence, for the entire month of April, to allow for earthquake relief work.
Following the 28 March earthquake the junta still carried out airstrikes in Magway, Bago, Sagaing, and Mandalay regions, as well as Shan, Karen, Arakan, and Kachin states.
