The Arakan Army (AA) has taken control of Rakhine State’s Minbya Township after capturing the last two military battalion headquarters in the township on Tuesday, according to Rakhine media reports.
The ethnic Rakhine army said that it seized the headquarters of the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 379 and Light Infantry Battalion 541 outside Minbya town on Tuesday after nearly a month of relentless attacks.
Dozens of regime forces and their family members surrendered to AA troops during the seizure of the two military strongholds, local media reported, citing witnesses from Minbya Town.
AA troops also captured the headquarters of Light Infantry Battalion 380 in the same area of Minbya on Jan. 28 despite being fired on by jets and gunboats sent in by the junta.
In January, the junta deployed a large number of reinforcements to Minbya – transporting them in by barges – but almost all were defeated in ambushes by AA troops. The AA also seized ammunition and food supplies parachuted in by junta airplanes in late January.
During its failed attempts to defend its bases in Minbya, the junta also bombarded Minbya town and many villages nearby from land, sea and air.
Rakhine media reported on Tuesday that Minbya has now become a regime-free township.
The AA also said its troop captured the junta’s border guard stronghold of Taung Pyo (left) on the border with Bangladesh in Maungdaw Township on Tuesday after three days of attacks.
It launched simultaneous attack on outposts of Taung Pyo (left) and (right) on Sunday. The military base at Taung Pyo (right) was seized on the same day, forcing several dozens of junta troops to flee across the border into Bangladesh.
The AA’s attacks on the two outposts drove more than 200 junta troops and police officers into Bangladesh.
Clashes continued to be reported in Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Ramree, Ann and Myebon townships in Rakhine State on Tuesday. The AA captured two other junta bases in northern Rakhine in the last 10 days.
The AA is a member of the Brotherhood Alliance, which launched the major anti-regime offensive Operation 1027 on Oct. 27 last year in northern Shan State. The alliance has seized most of northern Shan State, including about 20 towns and vital trade routes with China.
It halted its offensive in northern Shan State in the second week of January after agreeing to a China-brokered ceasefire with the regime.
However, the AA has been conducting a large-scale offensive across northern Rakhine State and Paletwa township in neighboring Chin State since Nov. 13, as part of Operation 1027.
It has seized about 170 junta outposts and three towns – Minbya and Pauktaw in Rakhine and Paletwa in southern Chin State – since launching the offensive. Chin State borders northern Rakhine State.
