Arakan Army takes full control of Taungup as key Myanmar junta outpost falls

The Arakan Army (AA) has taken full control of Taungup Township after it toppled a strategic military post on Saturday afternoon, the AA confirmed to local news outlets. “We have successfully taken control of Sakakha-5 at 4:10pm on December 14,” the AA’s spokesperson Khaing Thukha told Arakan Princess, an online media group, referring to the Military Operations Command 5 (MOC-5) headquarters on the outskirts of Taungup. “Therefore, we now control the whole town.” The capture of the MOC-5 headquarters is a major success not only because it’s a large command center overseeing several light infantry battalions in the area, but also because Taungup sits at a strategic intersection connecting Yangon to Ann, a strategically important town in central Rakhine State. Myanmar Now could not independently verify the news of the command centre capture by the time of publishing. The AA launched its offensive in Rakhine State in November of last year as part of Operation 1027, a coordinated campaign led by the Brotherhood Alliance, a coalition of ethnic armed groups consisting of the AA, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army. The operation dealt significant blows to the embattled junta, which has struggled to maintain control on the ground. In August, the MNDAA and allied forces captured the junta’s Northeastern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters in Lashio, northern Shan State’s largest city, delivering a historic defeat to the regime. On December 8, the junta also lost control of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, after its last defensive outpost in Maungdaw Township was taken by the AA after nearly two months of fighting. At the end of the operation, the AA detained Brig-Gen Thurein Tun, along with dozens of prisoners of war, including many ethnic Rohingya believed to have been forcibly conscripted by the regime. The AA now controls 12 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships, and is engaged in fierce fighting to take three others, leaving only the capital Sittwe, the deep-sea port town of Kyaukphyu, and Manaung on Cheduba Island, under junta control. Now that it has captured Taungup, the AA’s focus is on Gwa Township, in the far south of the state bordering Ayeyarwady Region, and Ann, which hosts the junta’s Western RMC headquarters.In a statement, the AA announced that it has besieged the Western RMC headquarters and captured more than 30 bases surrounding it. In recent days, the junta launched airstrikes in Taungup, killing two civilians and injuring at least 19 in retaliation for the AA’s offensives. A second airstrike on December 6 damaged a school in a small village. And in October, before clashes erupted, the junta's relentless airstrikes in Taungup Township killed many others, including children.Since the offensives began, the junta has systematically cut off telecommunication, as well as transportation to the state, forcing local populations to struggle to find food. According to a recent United Nations’ report, at least 2 million people in war-torn Rakhine State face “imminent famine” due to the widening crisis caused by the armed conflict.

Arakan Army takes full control of Taungup as key Myanmar junta outpost falls

The powerful armed group now controls 12 out of 17 townships in Rakhine State, with Taungup as the latest in its territorial expansion

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