Nearly 300 junta troops surrendered to the Arakan Army this week as the ethnic rebel group took control of a major Myanmar military encampment in northern Rakhine state, residents told Radio Free Asia.
The Arakan Army’s victory in Kyauktaw township on Tuesday came two days after it captured a nearby artillery battalion, a resident told RFA on condition of anonymity.
The advances are the latest in a series of victories for the Arakan Army and two other rebel groups that make up the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which launched a campaign in October on junta forces in the northern and western parts of the country.
In northern Rakhine and neighboring Chin state, the Arakan Army has seized arms and ammunition during several attacks on junta positions this month.
The junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 539 was located at the eastern foot of a hill next to the Sittwe-Yangon highway, local residents said. Junta forces had recently made serious efforts to fortify both the infantry and artillery battalions, they said.
“I closely witnessed the fierce fighting,” the resident said. “The military carried out air strikes with three jet fighters in the attack, while the AA used drones and artillery.”
A resident of Rakhine’s Rathedaung township told RFA that almost all Burmese military camps in the township have been captured by the Arakan Army, with only some urban areas still under junta control.
Residents told RFA that the armed clashes are intensifying in Maruk-U and Minbya townships, where the Arakan Army has been attacking three military battalions and one police battalion.
The junta has responded with jet fighters, a Mrauk-U resident told RFA on condition of anonymity.
Junta troops ‘will surrender gradually’
The junta has targeted residential areas with airstrikes at least three times a day in Minbya, a local resident who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals told RFA.
“The military council conducted aerial attacks by various fighter planes and artillery shelling,” he said. “They often fired from Mrauk-U.”
In the Pi Chaung area of Kyauktaw township on Wednesday, junta airstrikes killed five locals and injured 19 others, a resident told RFA on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
A local observer who is monitoring the situation in Rakhine said the Arakan Army is close to controlling all of northern Rakhine state and seems to be only getting stronger and smarter about combat strategy.
“They have also captured Paletwa township, and now the flow of arms and ammunition will be easier,” he said. “Except one or two places, the AA has seized the entire Mrauk-U city. So, it is expected that the military council will surrender gradually.”
RFA contacted Arakan Army spokesperson Khaing Thukha for further details on the two victories in Kyauktaw township, but he didn’t immediately reply.
A junta statement on Tuesday denied reports of a surrender of 100 soldiers in its Yae Soe Chaung strategic camp in Rathedaung. The statement also blamed the media for destroying the dignity of their security forces through spreading misinformation.
The military junta has not made a statement this week about the military situations in Rakhine state or about Tuesday’s surrender of the infantry battalion in Kyauktaw township.
Calls to Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson Hla Thein by RFA went unanswered this week.
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.