Myanmar’s Military Driven Out of Township in Northern Rakhine, Reports Say

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.