Intense clashes were reported in Rakhine State’s Pauktaw town on Tuesday as the Rakhine ethnic armed group the Arakan Army (AA) attacked regime forces there as part of Operation 1027, according to local media reports.
The military junta used aircraft and gunboats to defend the coastal town, while military bases in the nearby state capital Sittwe used rocket bombs to shell resistance forces during the clash, local residents told the media.
A video released by local media outlet Western News shows a rocket launched by a junta unit in Sittwe racing through the sky.
Details of damage and casualties on both sides were unknown.
The AA briefly took control of Pauktaw last Thursday after regime police and officials from the junta’s township administration department surrendered to the armed group. However, a junta unit of 100 troops retook the town on the same day after regime helicopter gunships and gunboats bombed it. The military unit shot dead around 10 civilians trapped in the town.
The AA vowed retaliation for the junta’s killings of residents.
In a separate development in Operation 1027 on Tuesday, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) said it attacked and seized three more junta bases along with a large haul of weapons and ammunition in the north and center of the Kokang area in northern Shan State.
The ethnic rebel group said it also conducted three drone strikes on the military’s 291st Battalion in Hseni Township, northern Shan on Tuesday.
The Brotherhood Alliance of the MNDAA, AA and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) launched Operation 1027 on Oct. 27, attacking and seizing regime targets and bases in northern Shan, Kachin and Rakhine states and upper Mandalay and Sagaing regions.
Several People’s Defense Force groups and other ethnic armed groups are coordinating with the operation.
As of Tuesday, 161 junta bases and nine towns had been seized in the operation.
The Myanmar junta has been unable to retake any of its bases despite vowing to launch a counteroffensive. The MNDAA is prepared for any potential action by the regime, its spokesperson Li Kyar Wen told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
