Insurgents attack military convoy in Myanmar's western state

YANGON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- An insurgent group, the Arakan Army (AA), has attacked a military convoy carrying out security operation and a local district police office in Mrauk U township, Rakhine state, local police force said Wednesday.

The AA group opened fire at the military convoy from inside civilian houses at the entrance of Mrauk U on Monday evening.

With the security forces retaliating to the firing, the clashes lasted for about half an hour.

In a separate incident on the day, AA entered some civilian houses in the township's Htammariz ward and launched attack on district police office with small arms.

The two incidents were the latest in a series of AA attacks in Rakhine state since the beginning of this month.

On last Thursday and Friday, two military convoys had been ambushed by AA in Mrauk U and Kyauktaw respectively.