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Ethnic minority insurgents in Myanmar are battling hard to capture a major military headquarters in Rakhine state, residents told Radio Free Asia on Friday, the loss of which would deal the junta a serious setback in the western-most state.
Arakan Army, or AA, fighters have seized large areas of the state, from its far north on the border with Bangladesh, through central zones to its far south, in pursuit of self-determination for the state’s mostly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine people.
“They’re shooting nonstop with large and small weapons,” a resident of the town of Ann said of the AA offensive to capture the junta’s Western Command headquarters.
Fighting on Friday was centered at a place called Mae Hill, on the approach to Ann about 5 km (3 miles) from the headquarters.
“There’s been fighting at Mae Hill for 10 days, more or less. The junta is fighting with all its might, as is the AA,” said the resident, who declined to be identified for safety reasons.
“When Mae Hill falls, the AA will seize the junta’s headquarters and Ann town.”
RFA attempted to contact both AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha and Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson, Hla Thein, for comment on the situation but neither responded by the time of publication.
Neither side has released any information about the battle.
The AA has captured 10 townships in Rakhine state and one in neighboring Chin state since launching an offensive nearly a year ago. It is fighting to capture another three townships in Rakhine state where it has already seized border posts, a naval training base and an airport.
Planes strike at night
The AA launched its push to seize the military's main headquarters in Rakhine state on Sept. 26, then capturing another hill called Thohein and forcing junta forces to concentrate their defenses at Mae Hill.
AA forces have intercepted junta columns trying to break the attack on Mae Hill inflicting casualties, residents said, but they had no details. Most of the residents of Ann town have fled but some civilians, including families and supporters of junta personnel remain, residents said.
While the focus is on Ann, AA fighter and junta forces are battling in other parts of the state, including in the central township of Toungup where villagers were trapped by fighting, said a resident there, who also declined to be identified.
Two junta airstrikes killed five civilians including a child in Kin Taung village in Tongup township, in the early hours of Friday, while a woman was killed in another air raid in the afternoon, residents there said. At least eight people were wounded, they said.
“People said they didn’t hear the sound of planes coming because they were sleeping,” one resident who declined to be identified, said of the two early attacks. “They were killed on the spot, limbs blasted off.”
There was no fighting nearby at the time of the airstrike, he said. Residents in Khaung Laung Tu village, about seven miles (11 kilometers) from Toungup town, also reported airstrikes on Thursday evening.
In Gwa township, in the far south of Rakhine state, the AA was fighting junta forces in Ya Da Nar Myaing village and the air force was bombing there too, residents said. Gwa township borders the junta stronghold of Ayeyarwady division.
According to data compiled by RFA, airstrikes killed 93 civilians and wounded 66 in Rakhine state’s Thandwe, Maungdaw, Pauktaw, Myaebon and Toungup townships in September.
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Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.