YANGON, Myanmar - Terrorist attacks have escalated in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state with six more civilians being killed in a new wave of ambushes by terrorists on Saturday, said the State Counselor's Office on Sunday.

The civilians killed included several village heads and a child in Maungtaw township.

The terrorist group also ambushed a police convoy with improvised explosive devices, leaving one terrorist dead.

In another incident in the day, 150 terrorists, armed with machetes, tried to attack security forces but were repelled.

Police at Kyunpauk Pyusu outpost also dispersed about 300 terrorists approaching the outpost.

The terrorists burnt down a village in Myinlut, destroying 88 houses, more than 100 shops, two mosques, eight religious schools, nine vehicles and four motorcycles and then fled to Mayu mountain.

Also about 500 other terrorists attempted to enter a village in Yethedaung township but were fought back.

Security forces have been reinforced to fight the terrorists.

In accordance with the Counter-Terrorism Law, Myanmar authorities on Friday declared the armed attackers and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army as extremist terrorist groups who have claimed the responsibility for Friday's attacks.

A statement of the State Counselor's Office condemned the terrorist attacks on the security forces, saying the acts were systematically plotted to cripple the efforts for peace, stability and co-existence of the local communities and insisting that their determined efforts would not waver in anyway due to atrocious acts of brutality of extreme terrorists.

The statement voiced commitment to finding effective solution with regard to the issues in Rakhine state through pragmatic and durable methods, while welcoming the constructive approach of the final report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine state, led by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Timed to coincide with the release of the commission's report, terrorists launched renewed attacks on 30 police outposts in northern Rakhine state in the early hours on Friday, killing 12 security personnel and one immigration officer, and leaving 77 terrorists dead with two captured alive so far.

Xinhua

(China Daily 08/28/2017 page12)