The Arakan Army (AA) on Wednesday announced it had captured hundreds of regime personnel including the notorious Brigadier General Thurein Tun during its seizure on Sunday of the last junta base in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township, near the border with Bangladesh.
The ethnic army said it launched its attack on the township’s last remaining regime unit, Border Guard Police Battalion No. 5, outside Maungdaw town on Oct. 14.
The heavily fortified base was manned by over 700 regime police officers and soldiers including Rohingya militia from the Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA), Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO).
The AA said it managed to seize the base on Sunday after 55 days of fighting amid junta airstrikes.
It said over 450 regime forces were killed during the fighting for the Border Guard Police battalion HQ, and that AA troops seized a large haul of weapons and ammunition.
The AA troops arrested Brig-Gen Thurein Tun, commander of the junta’s Military Operations Command (MOC) 15, along with regime troops including about 80 Rohingya insurgents after they fled the defeated base.
Hours before the base was captured, regime soldiers trapped inside posted a video on social media in which they appealed to the regime leader to evacuate them.
In the video, regime soldiers can be heard saying they have been trapped in the base for three months, that regime leaders had not implemented any evacuation plans, and that Brig-Gen Thurein Tun had left them in the lurch.
The general was notorious for commanding a lethal crackdown on peaceful anti-coup protests in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, following the military coup in 2021. He is also accused of overseeing the brutal torture of anti-regime activists detained at an interrogation center at the regime’s Central Military Command headquarters based at Mandalay Palace.
The general was also responsible for training and arming Rohingya people in northern Rakhine State to fight for the regime.
Former Army Captain Zin Yaw, who defected from the regime’s military after the 2021 coup, told The Irrawaddy the captured brigadier general was known for showing unwavering obedience to his superiors and for being ruthless toward the troops under his command.
“During the battle for the Border Guard Police battalion, he ordered his bodyguards to shoot any regime soldiers attempting to flee or surrender to the Arakan Army. However, he failed to report the true situation to his superiors, particularly regarding the condition of injured soldiers,” Zin Yaw said.
The AA released photos of captured junta soldiers including Brig-Gen Thurein Tun as well as a large haul of weapons and ammunition seized from the base.
The AA has now secured full control of Myanmar’s 270-km border with Bangladesh after completing its seizure of Maungdaw Township on Sunday.
The junta has yet to issue any statement regarding the fall of Maungdaw—a significant military defeat.
The AA is a member of the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organizations, which has seized most of northern Shan State including the capital Lashio since launching Operation 1027 in October last year.
The AA expanded the operation to its home state, Rakhine, in November last year and has since captured 12 of its 17 townships and a number of other towns, as well as Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State.
