6-5-2024 (YANGON) Ethnic Rakhine rebels have claimed capturing a key army command centre and taken hundreds of troops prisoner in the country’s volatile western borderlands. The audacious strike deals another body blow to the junta’s tenuous grip over the troubled state.
The Arakan Army insurgent group made the startling declaration on Monday through a video disseminated on its media channel. Footage appeared to show long lines of detained soldiers, including the second-in-command of Military Operations Command 15 near Buthidaung town – around 90km north of the Rakhine capital Sittwe.
“After a final assault, the junta troops faced total defeat and surrendered,” read an accompanying message in multiple languages. Separate clips depicted over 200 captives, purportedly soldiers and family members, seated under armed rebel guard in a forest clearing.
While the AA did not specify when the purported victory took place, the revelation comes amid persistent reports of intense clashes around Buthidaung in recent days as the ethnic militias battle to expel Myanmar’s military from its final urban footholds across Rakhine state.
“This is unquestionably a major coup for the rebels that will reverberate across the region and embolden opposition to the junta’s rule,” said Dr Maung Zarni, a Rakhine expert from the Buddhist Humanitarian Project. “Control of this strategic command means the Tatmadaw’s (military’s) days in northern Rakhine could be numbered.”
AA shows video of hundreds of sit-tat troops surrendering in Butheedaung, Rakhine State.
They are believed to be members of MOC15, including deputy Divisional Commander#MyanmarRevolution pic.twitter.com/zyhMSAwsgN— Nicholas (@nicholas6284) May 6, 2024
The military has made no official statement on the insurgent claims as yet. However, the remarkable scenes are the latest setback for a force reeling from three years of civil strife since toppling the elected government in the 2021 coup.
Having already lost its Rakhine borderlands to Indian and Bangladeshi rebels, the junta would be loath to concede control of Buthidaung’s inland routes and potentially cede the state entirely to the ascendant Arakan Army.
Intermittent conflict has plagued Rakhine for decades as the ethnic Buddhist warriors resist rule by the Bamar Buddhist-dominated military. But the latest upsurge followed the junta’s killing of pro-democracy protesters that shattered an informal ceasefire.
United Nations data indicates hundreds have perished and over 300,000 displaced since hostilities erupted anew last November, compounding the region’s already dire humanitarian plight after the 2017 scorched-earth offensive against Rohingya Muslim civilians.
