The Arakan Army is a Burmese Buddhist rebel organization formed in 2008. The organization was fighting in the Kachin Conflict alongside the Kachin Independence Army against the Myanmar Armed Forces. The group claimed to have between 400 and 500 members in December, 2012 and to be based in the western Burmese state of Arakan. Nyo Twan Awng, the organization's second in command, stated that the organization’s purpose is “to protect our Arakan people, and to establish peace and justice and freedom and development.”