The ethnic Arakan Army (AA) and allies have launched an assault on Myanmar junta outposts guarding an artillery base on the Ann-Padan road linking Rakhine State with neighboring Magwe Region, according to local sources.
Fighting broke out on Saturday at outposts in two Arakan Mountain villages close to Goggyi, located just 32 kilometers from Padan in Magwe’s Ngape Township.
“The Myanmar military outposts guard the Nat Yay Kan artillery base. [AA-led forces] must defeat them to advance from Ann to Padan town. The regime has been conducting airstrikes [in response to the assault],” said a local source.
A local resistance group active near the Rakhine-Magwe border reported that ongoing regime air and artillery strikes were making it difficult to assess the battle situation.
AA-led forces turned their focus on the Ann-Padan road after capturing Ann town and its Western Command headquarters last month.
The regime has reinforced the artillery base to prevent AA troops from advancing into Magwe Region, according to former captain Zin Yaw, a Myanmar Army defector.
Junta soldiers fleeing the fighting in Ann have reportedly been killed or captured in resistance ambushes along the road.
The People’s Revolution Alliance-Magway group reported attacking five junta vehicles carrying around 100 junta soldiers near Goggyi village with remote-controlled mines, killing four and wounding 13 others. On January 3, the group ambushed junta soldiers from Nat Yay Kan artillery base, killing three and wounding one.
Chinland Defence Force-Asho also reports capturing 11 junta soldiers as they fled from Ann with weapons and ammunition on Jan. 3-4.
Padan in Ngape Township, Minbu District is home to Artillery Battalion Headquarters 905, and three artillery battalions.
Ngape also hosts the regime munitions factory, KaPaSa 14, while KaPaSa 20 is located just 70 km north in Sidoktaya town. Both are among 22 regime weapons factories located in the path of advancing AA-led forces on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River in Magwe and Bago regions.
Minbu, Thayet and Pakokku districts, west of the Irrawaddy River, once formed the northwestern command of the now-defunct Communist Party of Burma. For many years, the area was a communist stronghold under Captain Thet Tun, a Myanmar military defector who rallied the local Asho Chin ethnic group. Fighting in the area ceased after Thet Tun returned to the Myanmar government fold in 1980.
