Arakan Army Seizes Myanmar Navy SEAL Base in Rakhine State

The ethnic Arakan Army (AA) said it seized the junta’s Navy Seal Training Center near the tourist destination of Ngapali Beach in Thandwe Township, southern Rakhine State on Thursday after a month of intense fighting, The Irrawaddy reports.

The junta stronghold, known officially as the Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot (CNDSD), is the first Navy headquarters seized by resistance forces.

Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing led the chiefs of the general staff, Navy and Air Force on an inspection of the CNDSD, which is located in Maung Shwe Lay village, in January last year.

The AA said it launched its operation to seize the Navy stronghold on August 7, attacking military columns defending the base in nearby villages. The junta deployed over 1,200 personnel including soldiers who escaped AA attacks from other clash sites, as well as naval trainees, to defend the training headquarters.

It also used Navy ships and aircraft to bomb AA troops around the base, the ethnic army said.

On Friday, the AA claimed its forces had killed over 400 regime personnel and seized a large haul of weapons and ammunition from the base. Navy ships reportedly retrieved dead and wounded junta soldiers and ferried them to Ayeyarwady Region and Rakhine’s capital, Sittwe.

AA troops also buried bodies of regime personnel left at the clash sites. After losing the Thandwe training center, junta bases in Sittwe shelled civilian communities under AA control in nearby Pauktaw town, damaging houses, the ethnic army said.

In northern Rakhine, the AA continues to clash with junta forces in its weeks-long push to seize Maungdaw town near the Bangladesh border.

The AA belongs to the Brotherhood Alliance, which launched the Operation 1027 offensive in northern Shan State last October.

AA troops cooperated in phase one of the operation, helping its alliance partners the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and allied resistance groups seize most of northern Shan State.

The ethnic army extended the operation to western Myanmar in November last year, attacking regime targets across Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State. The AA has since seized more than 10 towns and townships, taking control of almost all of Rakhine State.