Arakan Army captures another battalion headquarters in Myanmar’s Rakhine State

The Arakan Army (AA) has taken complete control of the headquarters of the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 552 in Rakhine State’s Buthidaung Township, it said on Wednesday, The Irrawaddy reports.

The ethnic army took control of the battalion’s headquarters on Monday after 32 days of intense clashes, it said, adding that the junta’s heavy bombardments from sea, air and land failed to prevent the headquarters from falling.

Weapons and ammunition were seized after the headquarters fell and bodies of regime soldiers had been left behind by their fleeing comrades, the AA said. Some regime troops surrendered and many others fled. The AA said its troops were chasing the fleeing junta troops.

The AA has also accelerated its effort to seize the junta’s Kyein Chaung outpost on the Bangladeshi border in Maungdaw Township. AA troops began attacking the border outpost almost a month ago and have captured parts of it.

On Monday, about 100 members of the regime’s police force stationed at Tahman Thar Police outpost surrendered to the AA after relentless attacks on the outpost.

The headquarters of junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 552 seized by the Arakan Army in Buthidaung Township on Monday.
The ethnic army said it seized weapons and ammunition from the outpost.

The AA is also attacking the remaining regime bases in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, it said.

The ethnic army has seized about 170 junta outposts and bases, including several battalion headquarters and military command centers, across Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in southern Chin State, since launching a major offensive against regime targets on Nov 13 last year.

It has seized all of Chin State’s Paletwa Township as well as six of Rakhine State’s 17 townships and two towns outside the six townships it controls.

The AA is providing shelter and food to the thousands of regime troops and their family members detained since the launch of the anti-regime offensive.