Myanmar junta intensifies efforts to defend key base on Magway-Rakhine border

Myanmar’s military carried out heavy airstrikes near the Magway–Rakhine border on Friday in an effort to repel resistance attacks on a key air defence base, local sources said. The regime’s aerial assaults come after the recent capture of Goke Gyi, a village some two miles southeast of the Nat Yay Kan air defence base, by anti-junta forces led by the Arakan Army (AA). The base is situated on a hilltop in Magway Region’s Ngape Township, close to the border with Ann Township in Rakhine State. The area has seen heavy fighting in recent months as the AA-led forces increasingly target junta positions along Rakhine State’s borders with neighbouring states and regions. “There were clashes this morning near Bone Baw, Sar Pauk, and Myay Latt, after our forces intercepted junta reinforcement units at around 6am,” a local resistance fighter told Myanmar Now on Friday, referring to three villages in the area. “Since Wednesday, the military has been deploying jet fighters, Y-12 aircraft, and gyrocopters to defend its bases during the clashes, and has also carried out nighttime surveillance,” he added. The Nat Yay Kan base is key to the regime’s efforts to halt resistance advances into Magway, where many of the vital armament factories that fuel its war machine are located. It has been a target of attacks by the AA and allied forces since March. In late September, the military sent a convoy carrying around 700 reinforcements to the Nat Yay Kan base, just days after losing control of its bases in the nearby villages of Goke Gyi and Pa Zi. Despite this, however, the regime has continued to face losses on the ground, forcing it to intensify its use of airstrikes to defend its positions. “All junta guard posts near the Nat Yay Kan base have been captured by the AA-led forces, so they are trying to send more reinforcements, backed by heavy aerial assaults,” a man close to local resistance forces said. In late August, regime forces suffered heavy casualties as the military deployed at least 1,400 reinforcements from nine battalions under the army’s Military Operations Command 17 to Ngape Township in a bid to secure the Nat Yay Kan base. A similar situation unfolded in early September, when the military attempted to retake outposts that it had lost near the base, resulting in the death of at least 60 junta troops, according to an AA statement. Many of the troops sent were recent conscripts, dozens of whom reportedly withdrew from their positions amid the fighting and ended up in the hands of resistance forces. On Friday, the People’s Revolution Alliance–Magway, a close ally of the AA based in Ngape Township, confirmed that at least 27 junta troops had been captured in recent battles in the township. “They escaped from the battles near the Nat Yay Kan base. We are keeping them under our control and treating them well,” a representative of the group told Myanmar Now. In June, the Chin Defence Force-Asho, another AA ally, announced that it captured 23 junta soldiers sent to help defend the Nat Yay Kan base. All were identified as recent conscripts.

Myanmar junta intensifies efforts to defend key base on Magway-Rakhine border

The regime has stepped up its defence of the Nat Yay Kan air defence base following the recent capture of a nearby village by resistance forces

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