Clashes erupt as Myanmar military attempts to exert full control in Kyaukphyu Township

The Myanmar junta has deployed troops to the southern edge of Kyaukphyu Township, a site of high-value Chinese investments in Rakhine State, to secure the township ahead of elections planned for December, local sources said. According to a source connected to the anti-junta armed group Arakan Army (AA), junta forces incurred heavy losses while on an advance last week from Kyaukphyu, the township’s urban centre at the north end of Ramree (Yanbye) Island, into villages several miles to the south. “The military took over Thaing Chaung and a nearby dam last week before advancing towards Min Pyin,” said the AA-connected source. “They suffered significant casualties, as they passed through a stretch of territory planted with landmines.” Min Pyin, one of the villages taken over by the junta troops, is around nine miles south of Kyaukphyu. Video footage showed a group of junta soldiers being hit by a barrage of AA shells on Friday as they prepared to take photos at a weather station near Min Pyin, shortly after taking control of the village. The junta troops had advanced into Min Pyin from the village of Thaing Chaung, located around seven miles south of Kyaukphyu, to exert control in the southern end of the township, but the AA has continued to fire on and surveille their positions. Myanmar’s military regime is planning to hold elections in several phases starting in December. During the first phase of voting, polls will open in the three Rakhine State towns the AA has been unable to capture: Sittwe, Manaung, and Kyaukphyu. The military has maintained control only in the urban areas of those townships but has recently deployed troops to regain control over outlying villages in Kyaukphyu Township as well. According to Captain Zin Yaw, a former army officer who defected to the anti-junta resistance after the military coup of 2021, the military plans to hold elections in Kyaukphyu’s urban wards while continuing an active counteroffensive in the township’s rural areas. “The junta counteroffensive in Kyaukphyu Township is getting closer to Ramree Township,” he said, referring to the neighbouring township on the same island. “They may also launch a large-scale amphibious operation in Kyaukphyu Township.” Kyaukphyu Township takes up the northwestern half of Ramree Island on Rakhine State’s Bay of Bengal coast, with the rest of the island’s area in Ramree Township. The AA currently controls Ramree Township. After reaching a ceasefire in late October with the AA’s ally, the northern Shan State-based Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar military has been able to concentrate more of its firepower elsewhere in the country, intensifying bombing campaigns in central Myanmar and Rakhine State. Airstrikes killed five people and injured six on Saturday in the villages of Nwar Tin Koke and Bar Ta Lay, located respectively to the east and northeast of the AA-controlled town of Rathedaung in the state’s north. During Operation 1027, a large-scale offensive against the Myanmar military lasting from late 2023 to 2025, the AA was able to wrest control of 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships, as well as Paletwa Township in Chin State, from regime forces.

Clashes erupt as Myanmar military attempts to exert full control in Kyaukphyu Township

The military regime is trying to maintain security in Kyaukphyu, one of the few towns where is has managed to maintain control in Rakhine State, ahead of upcoming elections planned for December

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