AA seizes Kyauktaw township, sinks another junta ship in Rakhine State

The Arakan Army (AA) announced on Tuesday that it has now taken full control of Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, while continuing to clash with junta forces elsewhere in the state. The AA now claims to exercise full control over Pauktaw, Kyauktaw, Minbya, and Mrauk-U townships in Rakhine State as well as neighbouring Paletwa Township, Chin State. Of 17 townships in Rakhine State, the junta has maintained full authority in only three: Gwa, Thandwe, and Manaung. The AA released photos of its fighters occupying the headquarters of Military Operations Command No. 9 (MOC-9) in Kyauktaw—one of 21 such command headquarters operating at the same tier throughout the country—as well as the police headquarters, the Myanma Post and Telecommunications (MPT) office, the Global Treasure Bank branch office, and various township-level administrative offices. The AA also claimed to have overrun all bases manned by junta battalions in the township in just over three weeks. The last of these, the light infantry battalion (LIB) 377 base, fell to the AA’s forces on February 7. The military council’s information ministry has not released any statements or information on the capture of an MOC-9 headquarters or the AA’s operations in Kyauktaw Township. AA sinks another warship near Minbya The Brotherhood Alliance announced on Monday that on the previous day, the AA—one of its three members—had sunk its fourth warship in Rakhine State since the previous week. The AA sank one of two junta vessels trapped in a river near Kya Ye Byin village, Minbya Township on Sunday, according to the Brotherhood Alliance’s statement. Two days later, a pair of junta vessels attempted to ferry reinforcements into the area, but the AA intercepted and fought with them, ultimately forcing their retreat, local sources said. Following the clash, according to locals, the AA arrested some 40 junta soldiers and other junta personnel sheltering in a school in the village, including a tactical operations commander. "The reinforcement ships had withdrawn. One of the attacked warships was sunk, while another was left stranded in the river, immobilised. Around 40 junta soldiers including a tactical operations commander were later arrested at a Kya Ye Byin school," said one Minbya Township resident. The locals’ claims about the arrest of the 40 junta soldiers and tactical personnel could not be independently verified, and the AA has not issued any official statements about the arrests. However, the Brotherhood Alliance’s announcement clearly stated that AA was responsible for sinking the junta ship in Minbya Township. In a previous, similar clash in Kyauktaw Township on February 7 and 8, the AA had fired on junta vessels on the Kaladan River in response to their alleged attacks on nearby villages, sinking two warships and a military ferry that had arrived with reinforcements. The AA claimed to have rescued people from the sinking ships, but some deaths reportedly occurred among those on board. Rumours that dozens to hundreds on the vessels were killed—including non-combatant family members of junta personnel—remain unconfirmed, and the AA claimed to be holding those they had rescued in accordance with the Geneva Conventions in a statement on Sunday. The AA was able to take full control of Minbya Township following the capture of all three LIB bases in the township under the command of MOC-9 on February 6. While the AA has maintained control of Minbya since then, the military regime has continued to assault the town, deploying airstrikes and shelling from warships on nearby rivers. Four Minbya Township residents—Aung Soe Min, 28; Maung Kyan Yit, 52; Thein Tun Hla, 39; and Than Shwe Maung, 40—sustained injuries during a junta airstrike near Pale Pauk village on Monday afternoon. A scene of Minbya in early 2017. (Photo – Minbya Facebook) Clashes persist in Kyaukphyu Clashes escalated on Sunday in Kyaukphyu Township, southern Rakhine State, a site of ongoing development projects with heavy investment from abroad that has become a battlefield in recent weeks. "A battle started last night, and the army fired off heavy artillery barrages that lasted until 9pm this evening,” said a woman who had fled the conflict zone for safety on Monday. “They were using both heavy artillery and machine guns." In Kyaukphyu Township, fierce clashes broke out at a junta outpost housing some 100 police and Border Guard Force officers. Military forces established the base camp, situated on Doe Tine Hill at the northern end of the township, around a decade ago. Locals believe that the recent clashes between junta forces and the AA began at the Doe Tine Hill camp. The sounds of gunfire and explosions continued into Monday evening, but the area has been relatively quiet since Tuesday morning, locals said. A junta warship and LIB 524, stationed on high ground at a nearby base, both shelled Hnget Pyaw Chaung and other nearby villages during the skirmishes on Monday, forcing several hundred local civilians to flee their homes. Junta forces also fired on the town of Ramree, some 40 miles south of Kyaukphyu, for most of the day on Monday, as well as carrying out airstrikes on the villages of Taung-U Maw and Kyauk Pyin in Rakhine State’s Pauktaw Township, injuring at least nine civilians.

AA seizes Kyauktaw township, sinks another junta ship in Rakhine State

The AA immobilised two warships outside Minbya and continued fighting regime forces in Kyaukphyu only a day before capturing the Military Operations Command No. 9 (MOC-9) headquarters in Kyauktaw

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