Junta escalates offensives on Arakan-Bago border to shield arms factories and election agenda

By Admin 06 Sep 2025

DMG Newsroom

6 September 2025, Yangon

The Arakan Army (AA) reported on September 5 that Myanmar's military junta has deployed about 1,500 troops in a series of aggressive assaults on areas along the Arakan-Bago border currently under AA control.

These clashes, intensifying in recent days, reveal a deeper agenda: the junta is not merely defending territory but is fighting to protect its military-industrial backbone - the Ka Pa Sa (Defense Products Industries) weapons factories - and to shore up its position ahead of a planned sham election.

Current battles are raging near Sinlan and Nyaungkyo villages in Pantanaw Township, Bago Region. Sinlan is located just seven miles from Nyaungkyo base, an outpost of the junta's Artillery Battalion No. 6 and a forward defensive line for Oatshitpin cantonment, where several Ka Pa Sa factories are based.

A frontline source told DMG: "Clashes have been ongoing since mid-August. The junta keeps reinforcing and launching repeated offensives to shield its artillery bases and Ka Pa Sa sites."

The AA and allied forces captured the Nyaungkyo base in April this year, a symbolic and strategic victory that rattled the junta. Since then, the military has entrenched defensive positions in Shukhintha and Sinlan, hoping to prevent further resistance advances.

Analysts stress that the Oatshitpin cantonment, where Ka Pa Sa 5, 6, and 16 are located, is crucial for the junta's survival, producing much of the weaponry used in its war on civilians. The current fighting is not just about territory - it is about the junta's ability to sustain its war economy.

CDM Colonel Zinn Yaw explained: "If the AA advances further, the Ka Pa Sa factories could come under direct artillery threat. Even without a full capture, heavy weapon pressure alone would destabilize the junta's weapons supply chain. That's why the military is desperately building layers of defensive outposts."

The junta's renewed offensives are also tied to its planned elections, which it hopes will manufacture a veneer of legitimacy. Military observers argue that by retaking strategic territory and suppressing resistance forces, the junta aims to claim control and project strength ahead of the polls.

A young Arakan military analyst told DMG: "The Bago offensive is especially significant. It shows the junta's fear of losing its Ka Pa Sa factories, which are its lifeline. If resistance forces consolidate this front, they could eventually push into central Myanmar. That's why the junta is throwing everything it has at these battles."

Since January 2025, the AA and allied People's Defense Forces (PDFs) have been widening their operations beyond Arakan into Bago, Magway, and Ayeyarwady regions, effectively stretching the junta across multiple fronts.

The junta's reliance on brute-force offensives - displacing civilians and militarizing border regions - illustrates once again that this war is not about national defense, but about preserving military rule, safeguarding arms factories, and staging an election charade under the shadow of artillery fire.