Fight for control of Taungup intensifies

By Admin 13 Nov 2024

DMG Newsroom
13 November 2024, Taungup

The Myanmar military clashed with the Arakkha Army (AA) near the Kaingshae Bridge and Theintaung Ward in Arakan State’s Taungup, where the regime’s No. 5 Military Operations Command is based, on Wednesday.

“The AA attacked junta soldiers deployed at civilian homes on November 13, with both sides firing heavy weapons,” said a resident of Taungup.

Some homes in Taungup’s Kanpaing Ward were damaged by junta artillery attacks during the fighting.

With an AA offensive ongoing across strategically important parts of Arakan State, the fighting has reached the town of Taungup, and residents still trapped in the town are attempting to flee by a variety of means.

“The fighting has spread to urban areas in Taungup. Artillery shells fired by the regime fell and exploded in some residential areas. Residents are fleeing Taungup in various ways,” said another Taungup resident.

The AA captured a junta artillery battalion on Mt. Pan Myauk and the University of Taungup on November 3. Fighting is fierce as the AA continues to attack the remaining junta battalions in Taungup.

The AA has gradually surrounded the junta battalions and military camps in Taungup Township over the past several months and resumed its offensive against junta positions in Taungup in the last week of October.

Fighting between the military and AA is intensifying in Taungup Township as the ethnic armed group has been targetting the military’s Light Infantry Battalion Nos. 346 and 544, about one mile from Taungup Town, since November 7.