Arakan Army battles junta for strategic air base on Rakhine border

The AA and allied forces launched an assault on the Nat Yay Kan air defense base along the Ann-Padan Road, a key route between Rakhine State and Myanmar’s Magway Region.The junta responded with airstrikes, killing three civilians and injuring more than 10, according to local sources and resistance forces.The Nat Yay Kan camp in Ngape Township, Magway Region—about 10 miles from the Rakhine-Magway border and 15 miles from Padan Village—is a strategic stronghold. The AA, a powerful ethnic armed group based in Rakhine State, and its allies have been attacking the base since mid-February.Between February 21 and March 2, the junta has bombed Linde, a village near Nat Yay Kan camp three times, resulting in three civilian deaths and at least 10 injuries, according to sources.The Asho Chin Defence Force (ACDF), told Myanmar Now that the battle for the air base has been intense, with the junta taking heavy losses. Salai Shan Sone, chief of the ACDF, said that resistance forces are working to cut off all junta supply routes along the 60-mile Ann-Padan Road, a key corridor through the Rakhine mountains linking Ann Town—home to the junta’s Western Command headquarters—and Magway Region."We are focusing more on Nat Yay Kan mountain, which is a tactical hill for the military junta,” he said. “And we are also working to cut off routes so that junta soldiers and weapons cannot be sent to Nat Yay Kan mountain.”The Nat Yay Kan camp has become a key stronghold for the junta, which reinforced it with troops after losing Ann Township in an effort to block the Arakan Army’s advance into Magway Region.Salai Shan Sone added that most of the junta's main guard posts on the Ann-Padan Road, including Taungsauk mountain, Kanmyintkan, and Goatseeyoe, have been occupied by the AA. The AA is also attempting to launch an offensive into the plains."We will attack until the military council cannot stay in the Asho Chin highlands anymore,” Salai Shan Sone said. “Only when there is no military junta in this region can we advance to the plains and to where the junta’s Naypyitaw camp is located."Since late last year, the junta has launched military columns against Asho Chin villages in the Rakhine Yoma range, while also bombing them from the air. The attacks have forced some 3,000 people from 13 villages to flee. . The Arakan Army (AA) launched its offensive on Ann Township in Rakhine State late last year. Since then, allied groups, including the ethnic Asho Chin forces, the People’s Defense Force (PDF), the Student Armed Force (SAF), and the People’s Independence Army (PIA) have blocked the Ann-Padan Road.As junta troops retreat from guard posts and the Nat Yay Kan camp, AA’s allies are intercepting reinforcements, PIA central committee member Moe Nay La told Myanmar Now."They are retreating from their guard posts,” Moe Nay La said. “Some are fleeing and evacuating from Nat Yay Kan. We can assess that they are trying to replenish those forces. There have also been interception attacks on junta troops by our allied groups along the road.”He added that if resistance forces are able to successfully capture the Nat Yay Kan air base, this would leave the regime open to also losing Defense Industry Factory 14, an explosives manufacturing plant located near Ngape Town, located about 10 miles from the Ann-Padan Road.Defense Industry Factory 2, which produces mortar and artillery shells, is in Malun Town near Ngape, while Factory 10, which manufactures 40mm vehicle-mounted rockets, is near Konegyi Village in upper Minhla Township.Moe Nay La pointed out that if resistance forces are able to control the Ann-Padan Road, they will be able to dominate the territory up to the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River, where a handful of junta weapons factories are located.Over the last few months, the AA has escalated attacks along the Ann-Padan road, pushing to fully take control of the Magway-Rakhine border region.Since late 2024, the AA and its allies have seized the junta’s Western Command headquarters in Rakhine State, turning Ayeyarwady, Magway, and Bago regions—bordering the Rakhine Yoma range—into new areas of potential expansion."The Asho Chin Defence Force is working with relevant organisations to help the displaced,” Salai Shan Sone of the ACDF said. “We are trying militarily on one hand, but we’re also trying to help the civilian population at the same time.”

Arakan Army battles junta for strategic air base on Rakhine border

The Arakan Army (AA) and allies are tightening control over the Ann-Padan Road, threatening military factories as they take more ground

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