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An ethnic minority insurgent force that has captured most of western Myanmar’s Rakhine state has seized a military base on a main road into central heartland areas, the group said, raising the prospect of a rebel push into the Irrawaddy River valley.
The Arakan Army, or AA, has made significant gains over the past year in its bid to force the Myanmar military out of Rakhine state and take it over, capturing 14 of the state’s 17 townships, and probing into southern and central areas of Myanmar dominated by the majority Bamar community.
AA forces seized a military base at a pass on the main road between the town of Toungup, which they hold near the coast, over mountains and down to the Bago region in the central plains.
“The AA completely captured the junta’s Mo Hti Taung camp on the border between Rakhine state and Bago division,” the AA said in a statement late on Monday.
The AA launched their bid to capture the camp, which is 180 kilometers, or 112 miles, southwest of the capital, Naypyidaw, on Jan. 21. They found abandoned ammunition, other military equipment and the bodies of junta soldiers, the group said, without giving details of casualties on either side.
The main spokesperson for the junta that seized power nearly five years ago, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Htun, did not respond to calls by RFA seeking comment.
Junta forces were launching counter-attacks from the east, the AA said.
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The AA did not say how the capture of the camp might fit into its military planning but one analyst said the group might be aiming to make a push east, down to the populated lowland, where the main north-south roads, railway lines and river transport links run, and on towards Naypyidaw.
“We must consider the possibility that they are coming to dominate along the Naypyidaw highway,” said political analyst Than Soe Naing.
“A situation where Naypyidaw can be surrounded is being created,” he said. “Similar to the military aims of other revolutionary forces, the conquest of Naypyidaw in the rainy season is possible.”
The camp at the pass on a main road from central areas to Rakhine state would also be an important defensive position for the AA if it wanted to block the military from advancing into Rakhine state from the east.
Than Soe Naing said the AA was also launching guerrilla attacks from the south of Rakine state into the Ayeyarwady region, and into the Magway region to the north.
The AA captured the Gwa town in the south of Rakhine state in late December and the military was launching heavy air and artillery strikes from the Ayeyarwady border to try to take it back, residents of the area said.
Similarly to the north, fighting is taking place on the main road east from Ann town, which the AA took in early December, through the mountains to Pa Dan, in Ngape township, residents said.
Battles are also being fought daily around the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe, one of the few places left under junta administration, residents said.
The other main area under junta control in the state is the Kyaukpyu economic zone on the coast, where China aims to build a deep-sea port, and has energy facilities including natural gas and oil pipelines running to southern China.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff.
