Arakan Army captures two more bases in Ann, drawing nearer to Myanmar military’s regional headquarters

Local sources in Ann, Rakhine State said the Arakan Army (AA) was close to seizing the military regime’s Western Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters as the army lost more bases in the township and its surroundings this week. Junta forces lost control of the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 371 base as well as a weapons depot on Wednesday, a resident of Ann said. “We heard that some buildings at the RMC headquarters are on fire. It’s because the AA is firing on it using heavy artillery,” he said. Fighting is also ongoing near the airfield in the township, he added. Following a pause of more than two months, the AA resumed fighting in Ann Township in late September, attacking the junta’s tactical base on Mae hill some 10 miles west of the township’s urban centre and capturing it by October 7. They then began to seize junta army bases in succession while advancing towards the Western RMC headquarters in Ann, including a field engineering base, the LIB 373 and 371 bases, and a military security affairs base, according to local sources. At the same time, local resistance forces allied with the AA intercepted and attacked junta forces on the Ann-Padan road in Ngape Township, Magway Region, which serves as an important route for conveying supplies and reinforcements to the junta’s bases in Rakhine State. The resistance forces attacked two army outposts with around 30 junta personnel on that road at around 11am on Tuesday, sparking clashes that resulted in the deaths of some junta troops as well as two civilians. Naung Thurein, commander of the People’s Revolution Alliance (PRA) of Magway, said that the civilian casualties were a vendor and a resident of a nearby village who happened to be on the street near where the fighting occurred. “One of the deceased was not from the area; all we know is that she was a woman selling perishable goods. The other victim was a villager from near here who was fatally shot while passing by the battle site after the fighting ended,” he said. People living nearby retrieved the vendor’s body and performed final rites for her, he said, while the body of the local man was taken back to his own village. The two junta outposts were located at an intersection in Bone Baw village and on the 11th milepost in western Ngape Township. “The outposts were new. They had only been set up for about a month,” said Naung Thurein. “Although they were serving as guard posts, they lacked proper fortifications and were simply civilian homes that had been commandeered. They were using these outposts to secure the supply route.” According to Naung Thurein, the resistance fighters were later forced to withdraw when junta reinforcements arrived at the two outposts and shot at them from two sides, trapping them. Troops stationed at the Nat Yae Kan air base in Ngape Township were also firing on them using heavy artillery, he added. The army’s ground forces have not counterattacked since the clash, according to Naung Thurein, but residents of nearby villages are being questioned, and civilians from five surrounding villages have fled. The PRA were joined by other resistance groups in the attack, including the Asho Chin Defence Force (ACDF) and Battalion 2 of the Minbu District People’s Defence Force (PDF). The resistance forces reported no casualties or injuries during the clash. Resistance forces undergo military training in Minbu Township, Magway Region in 2023 (Photo: People’s Defence Forces of Minbu District - Battalion 2) Myo Myint, the junta-appointed regional minister for social affairs in Magway Region, confirmed that a clash had taken place on the Ann-Padan road, adding that there were injuries among the junta troops manning the two guard outposts on the road, but that he was unsure of the exact toll. He also noted that he had not received information about any civilian casualties. The Myanmar army has bolstered its presence along the Ann-Padan Road, reaching a total of 25 bases along the route since last month, in its efforts to maintain control of Ann, a town of 120,000 residents that holds great importance for both strategic and symbolic reasons. If junta forces lost control of the town and the Western RMC located there, it would be the second RMC the military has lost to anti-junta forces this year, after Brotherhood Alliance fighters took over Lashio and the Northeastern RMC in northern Shan State in August. Seizing the road would strengthen the anti-junta forces’ strategic advantage outside of Rakhine State as well, according to Naung Thurein. “If we control this route, we will be able to carry out follow-up military operations along it,” the PRA commander said. “And if we gain control over the the Pathein-Monywa road from the Ann-Padan Road, we will have severed one of the key supply routes the junta uses to connect the southern and northern regions.” Taking over this section of road would extend the territory under resistance control to the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River, where a number of the junta’s munitions and arms factories are located, he added. Battles are also ongoing between the AA and Myanmar army in Gwa and Taungup townships in southern Rakhine State, and in Maungdaw Township near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, according to local sources. A woman living in Gwa Township said word had reached her that the AA had overrun the junta base in Taing Kyoe village, around 20 miles northwest of Gwa on the Bay of Bengal coast, after launching an assault on Wednesday. “I heard Taing Kyoe was captured. To reach Gwa, they still need to pass through four or five more villages. There are junta troops in some of them,” she said. The LIB 562 and 563 bases are located in Gwa Township, operating under the Military Operations Command 5 (MOC-5) office in Taungup. The military has deployed reinforcements from Ayeyarwady Region to the area. Fighting is also ongoing in and near Taungup, with AA forces attacking junta troops stationed at Taungup University and at a hill base some seven miles outside the town. The battlefield was relatively quiet in Maungdaw Township on the Bangladeshi border, where the AA has been fighting junta forces for months. One resident said he had heard some heavy and light weapons fire from Border Guard Police 5 (BGP 5) but that there were no other details available about the fighting. The military council has not issued public statements addressing the battlefield situation in Rakhine State and is suppressing information coming out of the state and from most of the battlefronts throughout Myanmar. Of Rakhine State’s 17 townships, the AA has now captured 10 from the Myanmar military: Thandwe, Ramree (Yanbye), Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Myebon, and Pauktaw. They have also taken over and held neighbouring Paletwa Township in Chin State.

Arakan Army captures two more bases in Ann, drawing nearer to Myanmar military’s regional headquarters

As intense clashes continued in Rakhine State’s Ann and Gwa townships in Rakhine State as well as neighbouring Ngape Township, Magway Region, locals predicted that the junta forces would soon lose their Western regional command in Ann

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