Insurgents in Myanmar’s Rakhine state have captured the military’s last posts in Ann town and have turned their attention to a nearby army headquarters, residents said on Tuesday, another major step in the rebels’ aim to control the entire state.
The Arakan Army, or AA, is fighting for self-determination in Myanmar’s western-most state and has made unprecedented progress over the past year, pushing forces loyal to the junta that seized power in 2021 into a few pockets of territory.
Residents of Ann, which is 220 km (135 miles) west of the capital, Naypyidaw, said the AA had seized the junta’s last posts in the Myo Thit, Lay Yin Kwin, Aut Ywar and Ah Hta Ka neighborhoods by Saturday, taking complete control of the town.
“The Arakan Army has captured the entire town except the Western Command headquarters,‘’ one resident told Radio Free Asia.
“Junta forces from their battalion areas captured by AA have gone to gather at the headquarters and are defending there,” said the resident, who declined to be identified for safety reasons.
The military had fired at the advancing insurgents, setting fires in some of the town’s neighborhoods but the extent of the damage was not known, said the resident, adding he had no information about casualties in the fighting.
AA fighters were now trying to seize the military headquarters on the southern side of Ann, where the defenders were being supported by extensive airstrikes, residents said.
“The junta is protecting the Western Command day and night with massive firing from the air,” said the resident, who declined to be identified for safety reasons.
Only a few civilians had remained in Ann and the AA had taken them to safety so the town was now empty, the resident said.
“There are people staying in the forest in shelters they’ve made waiting to go home if the situation improves,” the resident said.
RFA tried to telephone AA spokesperson Khing Thukha, as well as military council spokesman Hla Thein to ask about the situation but neither of them answered phone calls.
RELATED STORIES
EXPLAINED: What is Myanmar’s Arakan Army?
A year after offensive, rebels control most of Myanmar’s Rakhine state
Myanmar rebels capture town on main road to Chinese-built port
The AA, which largely draws its support from the state’s Buddhist majority, has made steady advances over the past year, from the state’s far north on the border with Bangladesh, through central areas to its far south, and it now controls about 80% of it.
On Nov. 20, the insurgents captured the town of Toungup in the centre of the state, which is on a road hub including a link to the the Kyaukpyu economic zone on the coast, where China is funding a deep-sea port, and has energy facilities including natural gas and oil pipelines running to southern China.
Residents said that AA was attacking the military’s Number 5 Operation Command headquarters, to the south of Toungup on the road to the town of Thandwe.
In the far south of the state, fighting is getting closer to the junta-controlled town of Gwa township, residents there said.
The AA has fully captured 10 of Rakhine state’s 17 townships as well as Paletwa township in neighboring Chin state.
Edited by RFA Staff