AA assault on military's Ann-based Western Command continues

By Admin 06 Oct 2024

DMG Newsroom
6 October 2024, Ann

The Arakkha Army (AA) continues to attack the Myanmar military's Western Command in Ann, Arakan State, with heavy weapons and drones, according to military sources.

"Today's fighting was not fierce. The AA fires mortar shells into the military's Western Command in Ann daily," said one military source on Sunday.

The AA has been attacking the military's Western Command with heavy weapons since the end of September, with the regime responding to the ethnic armed group's assault with artillery and aerial support.

The regime bombed AA positions and fired mortar shells into some positions about a mile from Ann at around 8 a.m. on October 6.

The junta has sent reinforcements from Taungup to Ann to defend the Western Command over recent days, said another source.

"The regime is sending reinforcements from Taungup-based military regiments to Ann. The regime airlifted junta soldiers to Ann yesterday," the source added.

Fierce clashes have been reported around a military camp on Mt. Mel, about 2 miles from Ann Town, since September 26. Residents say that since the end of September, more and more people have been fleeing the town, fearing that their lives were at risk as AA forces have closed in on Ann and the Western Command headquarters that it hosts.

"Residents of Ann Town are fleeing to safer locations in various ways as the fighting approaches Ann Town. Locals have been displaced by fighting since late September. Families of military regiments, junta supporters and those who cannot afford to flee remain in Ann," said a resident of Ann.

The fighting on September 26 displaced hundreds of locals from Kyauksakwe, Ywathayar and Mee Laung Chaung villages, and civilian casualties were reported due to the junta shelling.

To varying degrees of intensity, hostilities between the military and AA have been ongoing in Ann Township since March, with the ethnic armed group seizing the Tawhein tactical command base on June 23.