Myanmar denies flying helicopters over Bangladesh, declares military zone in Rakhine

The Myanmar government has denied reports of flying helicopters over Bangladesh. In addition, the government has also declared Rakhine state as a military operations zone. The State Counsellor’s office told Eleven Minutes, a leading Myanmar news outlet, that the army repeatedly checked the instruments onboard its helicopters to supports its claim to have not intruded into Bangladesh. Zaw Htay, director general of the Office of the State Counsellor, said: “Myanmar’s military helicopters have not been found flying over Bangladeshi air territory, according to several analyses of our helicopters’ transport maps and GPS data. The Tatmadaw (official name of the Myanmar armed forces) checked, re-checked and counter-checked the GPS data of flights of MI-17 transport helicopters. The Tatmadaw officially told the State Counsellor’s office, but they have not told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yet. They will inform the relevant ministries. “The Tatmadaw helicopters flew only over Myanmar territory while distributing supplies and conducting emergency rescue measures during terrorist attacks in Maungdaw. The helicopters are not meant for fighting battles”, Zaw Htay said. On August 27, 28 and September 1, several Myanmar helicopters were detected in Bangladesh airspace. The government strongly protested the intrusion.

The militarised township

The whole township of Maungdaw in the Rakhine was officially declared a military operations zone effective from August 25. The information was revealed to The Irrawaddy on Monday. Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing demanded the official recognition of the region from the government, and was subsequently The declaration will subsequently facilitate the Myanmar army’s mobilisation and tactics in the area. The army will be able to pursue “effective clearance operations” as per Frontier Myanmar. Although the army is operating several other townships, it remains to be confirmed if they too are military operational zones.