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| - Recently, a claim has been circulating on social media that Myanmar’s rebel group, the Arakan Army, has occupied the Teknaf region in Bangladesh.
View posts shared on X (formerly Twitter) promoting this claim here (Archive) and here (Archive).
View similar claims shared on Facebook here (Archive), here (Archive), and here (Archive).
View Instagram posts related to this claim here (Archive) and here (Archive).
View LinkedIn posts related to the claim here (Archive).
Additionally, the claim has been expanded to suggest that the Arakan Army has occupied 272 kilometers of Bangladeshi land.
View reports from Indian media on this claim, such as Republic Bangla here. The claim is made after the 20-second mark in the report.
Further Facebook posts discussing the claim can be seen here (Archive), here (Archive), here (Archive), and here (Archive).
Fact-Check
The Rumor Scanner team’s investigation revealed that the Arakan Army has not occupied the Teknaf region in Bangladesh. Instead, they have taken control of Myanmar’s border areas adjacent to Bangladesh.
An analysis of the claims revealed that most lacked credible evidence, although some included a video report from News24. According to a report published on News24’s YouTube channel on December 10 (link), the Arakan Army has taken full control of a 270-kilometer stretch of Myanmar’s territory bordering Bangladesh. This includes the town of Maungdaw. Additionally, the Arakan Army has imposed a ban on vessel movement in the Arakan waters of the Naf River. The report clearly states that the Arakan Army has taken control of areas within Myanmar near the Bangladesh border, not any part of Bangladeshi territory.
A December 9 report in Prothom Alo (link) stated: “Myanmar’s armed rebel group, the Arakan Army, has claimed control of the town of Maungdaw. As a result, the entire 270-kilometer border area of the Bangladesh-Myanmar boundary is now under the Arakan Army’s control. After months of fighting with Myanmar’s junta, the Arakan Army claimed control of Maungdaw on Sunday morning.”
Similarly, a December 10 report in Bangla Tribune (link) noted:
“The Arakan Army (AA) has taken full control of a 270-kilometer area of Myanmar adjacent to Bangladesh. On Sunday (December 8), the armed rebel group claimed to have seized Maungdaw, a town near Bangladesh’s border. Consequently, almost the entire 270-kilometer stretch of the border area is under the Arakan Army’s control. Myanmar’s news outlet, Irrawaddy, reported this on Monday.”
The same information is corroborated by BBC Bangla (link), Daily Inqilab (link), Independent Television (link), Dhaka Post (link), and other news outlets.
The source of the claim in Bangladeshi media, Irrawaddy, a Myanmar-based outlet run by exiled journalists, also confirmed in a December 9 report (link) that the Arakan Army has taken control of areas within Myanmar, not Bangladesh.
A keyword search of credible sources found no evidence to support the claim that the Arakan Army has occupied any part of Bangladeshi territory.
For additional verification, the Rumor Scanner team contacted Sheikh Ehsan Uddin, the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Teknaf, who dismissed the claim as false, stating:
“The Arakan Army has not occupied Bangladesh’s border. They have taken control of their (Myanmar’s) border areas.”
Conclusion
The claim that Myanmar’s Arakan Army has occupied the Teknaf region of Bangladesh is demonstrably false. Investigations confirm that the Arakan Army has taken control of border areas within Myanmar, not any part of Bangladeshi territory. Reliable sources, including official statements and credible media reports, have unanimously refuted this claim.
Sources:
- News24 – Arakan Army takes control of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border
- Prothom Alo – Arakan Army claims control of Maungdaw, Myanmar-Bangladesh border
- Bangla Tribune – Arakan Army takes control of Myanmar’s 270 km border near Bangladesh
- BBC Bangla – Border area under Arakan Army control
- Dhaka Post – 270 km Bangladesh-Myanmar border under Arakan Army
- The Irrawaddy – AA takes full control of Myanmar-Bangladesh border
- Statement by Sheikh Ehsan Uddin, UNO, Teknaf Upazila
- Rumor Scanner’s own analysis
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