The Arakan Army (AA) has seized most junta checkpoints near Nyaung Kyoe Village in Bago Region’s Pandaung Township this week, an AA spokesperson confirmed.
“Fierce battles are taking place around Pagankwe Village and Nyaung Kyoe Village in Pandaung Township, Bago Region,” the AA’s Khaing Thukha told Myanmar Now.
“Our joint forces have already captured and taken control of most of the checkpoints around Nyaung Kyoe Village.”
The Arakan Army (AA), a powerful ethnic armed group and its allies, are advancing on junta bases along the Pandaung-Taungup road, a route that links Rakhine State and western Bago Region. Khaing Thukha added that many junta troops have been retreating, while simultaneously launching repeated airstrikes.
Nyaung Kyoe lies just over nine miles east of the Moehti Mountain Base, an area the AA seized on January 26, approximately 17 miles from Oke Shit Pin Town on the Ayeyarwady River’s west bank. Nearby towns include Pandaung and Pyay to the north.
“The remaining junta forces are retreating in scattered groups,” Khaing Thukha said. “With ongoing airstrikes, the situation is complicated, and the fighting remains intense.”
Nyaung Chay Htauk lies three miles west of Oke Shit Pin, a village near Defense Industry Factory 6—a major producer of steel and weapon materials located across the Ayeyarwady River from Pyay.
The junta runs 25 Defense Industry factories producing weapons ranging from small arms to heavy anti-aircraft systems. Most are in Magway (15), many in Bago (7), Naypyitaw (2), and Yangon (1).
But as the regime continues to lose ground to the forces arrayed against it, its capacity to keep its war machine operating is looking increasingly vulnerable. The AA’s offensive has now reached western Bago, where factories 5, 6, 9, and 16 sit near Oke Shit Pin, and factories 3, 7, and 19 are near Pyay. In February, 2023, resistance forces launched a large attack on a weapons factory in Magway Region.
After capturing 14 out of the 17 townships in Rakhine State, including Ann Town, where the junta’s Western Command headquarters fell to the resistance, the AA’s next military target has become the Rakhine Yoma mountain range— an area that spans Rakhine State, Magway and Bago regions.
After capturing Gwa Township in December last year, the AA has also been moving along the Bay of Bengal, pushing deeper into Ayeyarwady Region. The armed group has been attacking the regime’s Light Infantry Battalion 308, a strategic base that plays a key role in the junta’s military operations in western Myanmar.
The Rakhine based ethnic armed group has captured two of the battalion’s major checkpoints this month. At the same time, the AA is continuing its advance near Natyaekan camp in Ngape Township, about 10 miles from the Rakhine-Magway border, a zone where intense fighting continues, according to local sources.
To stop the AA’s advance, the junta is reinforcing troops in Pwintbyu Township, Magway Region. Since launching offensives on November 13, 2023, the AA has captured 14 townships in Rakhine State and Paletwa in Chin State.
Clashes continue near Sittwe and Kyaukpyu, with Manaung Township remaining the only area in Rakhine not yet affected by fighting. As the AA continues to make significant territorial gains, the junta’s ability to maintain control is increasingly under threat.
And with key checkpoints seized, ongoing clashes, and strategic weapons factories at risk, the AA’s progress in both Rakhine and neighboring regions underscores the growing vulnerability of the regime’s military operations.
