Tatmadaw officials reported about the insurgents ambushing soldiers, policemen and government officials between 3 and 4 August, resulting in casualties on the government side as well as the death of a government official. The Arakan Liberation Party accused the group of abducting five of its members near Myaung Gyi village of Ponnagyun Township on 10 August. They were released on 18 August. On 4 September, Tatmadaw spokesman Zaw Min Tun accused the Arakan Army of exploding landmines near a police convoy escorted by the military in Kyauktaw Township. He also denied reports claiming the Tatmadaw had burned down the villages of Phayar Paung and Taung Pauk, and further stated that two soldiers had been found dead. The Arakan Army, however, rejected mounting any attack, claimed the two deceased were civilians, and accused the Tatmadaw of fabricating narratives as an excuse for their arson on the two villages. The accounts of arson by the military were also reported by locals, who also stated that two civilians had been killed. Chin State's Municipal Minister Soe Htet and eleven government officials accompanying him were caught in an attack by the Arakan Army on 9 September, forcing them to return to Paletwa. The Tatmadaw's True News Information stated that the group had attacked a military base and not him. About 3,000 were displaced on 23 September during military operations near Gutaung village of Rathedaung Township. Clashes intensified in Rathedaung on 3 October, with the military bringing in jet planes and the Myanmar Navy as it engaged in clashes with the Arakan Army for control of a strategic hill near Aungtharzi village. The military claimed to have taken the hill on 4 October, but the Arakan Army stated on the following day that it had retaken it. Fighting also took place near Kyauktan village of Rathedaung Township, with the military calling in fighter jets to bomb the group. The Arakan Army abducted three NLD candidates from Taunggok Township on 14 October, with a witness alleging that they also beat up 11 people. It demanded the release of student protesters and other civilians who had been arrested, in exchange for the release of the candidates. The group later struck a temporary outpost of the Tatmadaw at Mount Mayu near Inn Din village and an outpost of the Border Guard Police near Ahtet Nan Yar village of Rathedaung Township on 26 October. The military's spokesman Major General