The Arakan Army (AA), has launched new attacks this week in an area near the Nat Yae Kan Air Defense Base base in Ngape Township, Magway Region, according to local sources.
The offensive, which targeted junta camps along the Ann-Padan road near the Rakhine-Magway border, is another significant gain for the powerful ethnic armed group based in Rakhine State. Following the AA’s capture of Tone Gyi Village in Ngape Township in recent days, the clashes have now extended to the Nat Yae Kan, situated about five miles east of the village.
“The clashes near Nat Yae Kan are extremely intense, with constant airstrikes and artillery fire,” one source with knowledge of the offensive told Myanmar Now. “They fire relentlessly without pause.”
In response to the intense fighting in Ann Township and other southern townships last year, the junta has set up new military camps along the Ann-Padan road, a vital route connecting Magway to Rakhine State, and attempted to send reinforcements via this route.
After the AA captured Ann Town, clashes escalated along the Ann-Padan road. Local sources say that the AA has taken control of several small junta village camps, including Taung Sauk station, Kan Myint Kan, and Goke Seeyo.
The natural gas pipeline station from Kyaukphyu is situated near Tone Gyi Village, where the junta has set up a base when residents fled last year, according to the source. The AA have ratched up offensives in order to take Kyaukphyu in recent months, inching closer to the town, a key location and one of the last remaining centres of junta control in Rakhine State.
“This base is meant to protect the natural gas pipeline station near Tone Gyi Village, but the responsibility should actually fall to the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) police,” the source said. “The junta troops rely on the MOGE police and camp near them. The base is also strategically placed along the pipeline.”
The Nat Yae Kan base, once an air defense outpost, now hosts long-range rocket launchers and stationary artillery after the junta lost Ann. As fighting increases, the base has been reinforced, according to a resistance Captain Zin Yaw.
“Nat Yae Kan hill is strategically located, offering advantages for both attackers and defenders,” he said. “If we take control of the base, we would capture heavy weapons and long-range artillery all the way to the Padan military region. This could present a serious threat to the Ka Pa Sa 14 arms factory and Artillery Operations Command No. 905 in the Padan military region,” he said, referring to the junta’s Directorate of Defence Industries, known locally by its Burmese acronym of ‘Ka Pa Sa.’
The AA began its offensives in Rakhine State on November 13, 2023. And over the course of more than a year, the group has taken control of 14 out of 17 townships. Since the start of the year, the armed group has also expanded its operations to regions bordering Rakhine State.
Clashes have intensified along the Rakhine-Bago border, adjacent to the Rakhine Hills, and along the Rakhine-Magway and Rakhine Hills-Ayeyarwady borders following the capture of Ann Town, the Regional Command HQ, as well as Taungup and Gwa towns.
The AA seized the Moe Hti Taung base on January 21 after a five-day assault along the Padaung-Taungup road, a key route linking Rakhine State to western Bago Region. The AA then captured a junta camp in Pangkan Kwe Village and, in response, the junta reinforced defenses in Nyaung Kyoe Village, according to Development Media Group (DMG).
Despite the AA signaling openness to diplomatic discussions, at present, the AA and the junta have been unable to initiate ceasefire talks. Instead, the military has continued to rain down airstrikes and launch artillery attacks on various townships controlled by the AA, often killing dozens of civilians in its wake.
