AA captures hilltop base near Myanmar junta’s Western Regional Command

The Arakan Army (AA) captured a key hilltop base near the Rakhine State town of Ann, home to the junta’s Western Regional Military Command (RMC), on Monday, according to sources. A resident of the town told Myanmar Now that the battle for control of the Mae Taung Hill, about five miles outside of Ann, ended abruptly on Monday morning after nearly two weeks of intense shelling and airstrikes. The AA began its attacks on the base on September 26 as part of its ongoing offensive, launched in November of last year, to take full control of Rakhine State. “With the capture of Mae Taung, there are no obstacles now. They can enter Ann at any time,” said a source who has been following the situation closely. According to the source, the Mae Taung base was established as a final line of defence after the AA began targeting the nearby Taw Hein Taung tactical base in April. That base was captured on June 23 after more than two months of sustained attacks. With the fall of the Mae Taung base, the Western RMC headquarters is now within range of the AA’s artillery fire, the source said. “The AA shelled the Western RMC headquarters continuously from around 7pm on Sunday until around 2am the next morning. Sporadic shelling continued until around 7am,” the source said, adding that junta aircraft could also be seen circling Ann. The regime has not released any statement on the situation in Ann Township or in any other part of Rakhine State, where it continues to lose ground to the AA. For the past month, the only official reports coming out of the state have been related to the weather. The AA has also stopped providing regular battle updates since China announced that it is engaged in mediation efforts in the state, where it heavily invested in strategically important infrastructure projects. However, on Monday the group reported that a 38-year-old woman named San San Oo was killed and four others injured the day before in an ambush on their vehicle in the northern town of Maungdaw, which it has also recently captured.

AA captures hilltop base near Myanmar junta’s Western Regional Command

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