Arakan Army steps up effort to capture Myanmar junta’s remaining bases in Taungup

A week after seizing control of the town of Taungup in southern Rakhine State, the Arakan Army (AA) says it has intensified its efforts to capture remaining junta positions in the area. On Friday, the group announced that it had launched simultaneous attacks on three targets outside the town’s centre—the Military Operations Command 5 (MOC-5) headquarters and the nearby Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 346 and 544 bases. A week earlier, the AA said it had overrun all regime outposts within the town, taking full control on November 24 after more than two weeks of fighting. However, the MOC-5 headquarters and two LIB bases, all located in Taungup’s Kan Paing Ward, have yet to fall, the group said. Residents of the town told Myanmar Now that the AA has urged everyone to get out as the regime steps up its air and artillery strikes amid fierce clashes on the ground. A number of neighbourhoods have reportedly suffered serious damage, local sources said. “Heavy shelling destroyed about 17 houses near the Shwe Taung ice factory in Thein Taung Ward. There were also fires started by airstrikes,” said a man living in the area. There were also reports of looting in some parts of Taungup, resulting in several arrests by AA troops, residents said. Taungup is the 10th township in Rakhine State to come under AA control since it launched its ongoing offensive in November of last year. The others are Mrauk-U, Minbya, Myebon, Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, and Ramree townships, as well as Chin State’s Paletwa Township. On November 13, the first anniversary of the start of the operation, the group said that it was also close to taking Ann, Gwa, and Maungdaw townships. “In some townships, we’ve captured 95 percent. In some, over 90 percent,” AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha said at the time. Currently, the main focus is on Ann, where the junta’s Western Regional Military Command (RMC) is headquartered. In a bid to hold onto the town and the RMC headquarters, the regime has bolstered its defences along the Ann-Padan road, linking Ann to Magway Region. However, on November 23, forces allied to the AA captured 14 junta soldiers in an ambush in Magway’s Ngape Township as they retreated from their base just outside of Ann. The Chinland Defense Force-Asho, one of the groups involved in that operation, says it also took four junta troops prisoner after intercepting them on the road in late October. Salai Yoe Chin, an official from the group, told Myanmar Now that all four prisoners had been forcibly recruited by the regime, and had received only minimal military training. “The most any of them received was two months. The others got just 15 days, or not even that. They said they were taught how to assemble and disassemble their guns, and were then sent to the front lines,” he said.

Arakan Army steps up effort to capture Myanmar junta’s remaining bases in Taungup

The group says it carried out simultaneous attacks on three army positions, including a military operations command centre, late last week

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