Arakan Army sinks junta warships while military’s grip on Rakhine State weakens

As it continued gaining ground against regime forces in Rakhine State, the Arakan Army (AA) sank two junta warships and a ferry on the Kaladan River near Ah Pauk Wa village, Kyauktaw Township last week. AA members rescued people from the water who had jumped to escape the sinking ships, the AA claimed in a statement on Sunday, and is holding them in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. The AA also claimed to have stopped four other junta warships en route to save people escaping the sinking ships, attacking them en route to prevent them from approaching. According to the AA’s statement, they initially called on the ships’ crews three times to raise a white flag, but the junta personnel aboard the ships would not surrender. Junta aircraft flew into the area during this time to carry out airstrikes on the AA, the statement said, after they had given the warships’ crews a 30-minute deadline to surrender. The aerial attacks resulted in injuries to more than ten AA fighters as well as some deaths, the statement said. The statement did not provide the exact number of junta personnel initially on board the ships, the number of junta casualties, nor the numbers missing or rescued by the AA. The military council released no statements mentioning the sunken ships in Kyauktaw Township until Sunday. Before this, however, posts on pro-junta propaganda channels on social media claimed all junta personnel and their family members aboard the ships had been killed. According to the AA, junta warships have carried out frequent attacks on villages along rivers and creeks—using both small arms and artillery—at all hours of the day and night. The AA said their action against the warships was in response to these attacks. Throughout the rest of Rakhine State, the AA has scored a growing number of victories in its continued offensive operations against the military. Of the state’s 17 townships, the junta have maintained full control in only three: Gwa, Manaung, and Thandwe. In the remaining 14, the AA continue to operate freely, have assaulted military positions, or have taken full control. AA fighters seen with captured weapons seizing army bases in Paletwa Township, Chin State. (Photo: Arakan Army) The AA has taken over Mrauk-U, Minbya, Kyauktaw, and Pauktaw townships in Rakhine State, as well as Paletwa Township in Chin State. Fighting is ongoing in Buthidaung, Kyaukphyu, Maungdaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, and Ramree townships. Both junta and AA forces have maintained an active presence and are preparing for potentially imminent clashes in Ann, Myebon, Sittwe, and Toungup townships. Pe Than, a Rakhine political analyst and former member of parliament for Myebon Township, told Myanmar Now that the military’s Regional Central Training Center 9, located some 10 miles outside Minbya, is also currently surrounded by AA fighters. “There’s considerable distance between the town of Minbya and Regional Central Training Center 9. People can't even leave Regional Central Training Center 9 because of the situation there,” Pe Than said. “The junta can also no longer provide reinforcements to Minbya, which has come totally under the control of the AA,” he added. The AA is a member of the tripartite Brotherhood Alliance, along with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), an ethnically Kokang group, and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army. This alliance of ethnic armed organisations launched a broad, coordinated offensive against the military in late October of last year dubbed “Operation 1027,” initially concentrated mostly in northern Shan State. Two weeks after the offensive began, the AA began to expand the operation by assaulting junta army bases in its own historic strongholds in western Myanmar—namely Rakhine State and neighbouring Paletwa Township, Chin State. Under pressure from the Chinese government, the Brotherhood Alliance agreed to a ceasefire with the military in January and suspended the offensive in Shan State, but it has continued without signs of abating in Rakhine State. On the defensive in Rakhine State, junta forces have relied increasingly on air and artillery strikes in its clashes with the AA, as well as attacks from warships navigating the state’s rivers and coastal waters. Last Friday, the junta struck from the air and water using heavy weapons in response to AA attacks on their bases in Ramree Township, with the resulting fires destroying civilian houses in the area, residents said. On the same day, the AA attacked the junta’s Koe Tan Kauk border guard station on the to Ah Ngu Maw-Maungdaw road in Rathedaung Township. The AA had already captured two nearby border guard outposts in November. The armed resistance that arose throughout Myanmar in 2021 after the military seized power and fired on peaceful protesters forced the coup regime to deploy troops to every state and region in the country. While its forces in Rakhine State are insufficient to maintain control, the military remains too preoccupied fighting off attacks by resistance and anti-junta ethnic armed organisations in other parts of the country to send substantive reinforcements to the Rakhine front. With plans for the offensive many years in the making, the AA have achieved some significant successes in their recent assaults, capturing many junta bases despite incurring significant casualties in the process.

Arakan Army sinks junta warships while military’s grip on Rakhine State weakens

Pro-junta propaganda channels claimed the attacks on warships caused egregious casualties, but the AA said they rescued people escaping the ships, which had allegedly attacked civilian villages

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