Ethnic rebels close in on 2 towns in Myanmar’s Rakhine state

Ethnic minority rebels fighting to take over western Myanmar’s Rakhine state reported on Friday advances in two areas where its forces have been making significant gains against the military junta that seized power in a 2021 coup.

The Arakan Army, or AA, fighting for self-determination of the state’s predominantly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine population, said its fighters captured the last junta base on the outskirts of Thandwe town, the headquarters of the Infantry Battalion 55 base, on Tuesday, although junta troops still occupied the town center.

Thandwe is about 250 km (155 miles) northwest of Myanmar’s biggest city of Yangon, and near one of Myanmar’s main beach resorts.

The AA has captured 10 townships  in Rakhine state and neighboring Chin state, since late last year, part of a series of setbacks for the embattled junta.

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In the north of Rakhine state near the border with Bangladesh, about 350 km (217 miles) northwest of Thandwe, the AA announced that its forces had seized the Ma Gyi Chaung Border Guard Camp on Thursday and was pressing junta forces at Border Guard Post No. 5 and and in nearby Maungdaw town.

The insurgents said this week its forces had killed more than 750 junta soldiers in those two main battle zones. Radio Free Asia was not able to independently verify the toll but residents of both regions have been reporting heavy fighting for weeks.

RFA tried to contact the junta’s main spokesman, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, for information but he did not respond.

Since the AA warned residents to leave Maungdaw on June 16, more than 5,000 people have fled to Bangladesh, which is across a border estuary, said one town resident who declined to be identified for security reasons.

“There are at least 80 to 100 Rohingya people fleeing to Bangladesh [every day],” he said. “Boats from Bangladesh come to pick them up.”

Despite fighting in Maungdaw town, Bangladesh authorities have forced at least 12 refugees back into Myanmar, residents said. The Bangladesh Embassy in Yangon did not respond to RFA’s request for comment. 

More than 700,000 members of the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after the Myanmar military launched a crackdown against Mjuslim insurgents.

Two residents of Maungdaw town were killed in the latest heavy weapons fire and 13 were wounded, residents said.

The AA did not give any update on casualties, either among junta forces or its own, but said 30 junta soldiers and border guards fled into Bangladesh during fighting on Thursday. 

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.