Myanmar Regime Forces Beached in Battle for Sittwe
Fierce battles have erupted around rebel-held Nga Pyi Island in Rakhine State’s Kaladan River delta, where regime forces keep trying to land troops despite heavy losses.
Local sources say scores of regime solders were killed or captured in the first three days of fighting as the Arakan Army (AA) defends the strategic outpost while laying siege to the state capital Sittwe across the water.
AA troops recently seized regime sentry bases at Amhyint Kyun Village at the entrance of Sittwe.
Since Oct. 7, the military has deployed six gunboats and a dozen speedboats backed by airstrikes and artillery fire from Sittwe in an effort to seize the island.
But AA fighters are entrenched there because it allows them to attack regime naval bases and ships stationed throughout the delta and along the coast.
Sources close to the AA said regime troops are reduced to trying to land troops with speedboats after three of their larger ships were hit by AA fire on Oct. 8, with two sustaining serious damage.
“Despite the casualties, they keep on coming,” one source told The Irrawaddy.
As many as 50 regime soldiers managed to reach the shore in the first two days of fighting but were either killed or captured, sources said.
As of Monday the regime had been unable to gain a foothold. Soldiers are reportedly being forced to advance under threat of being shot by their own commanders if they refuse.
“I’ve heard they are using conscripts as cannon fodder,” another source said.
Last month, the regime launched an offensive to retake lost territories in Rakhine, dispatching three columns to AA-held Ponnagyun north of Sittwe. Nearly one month later all three columns have been repelled, and the regime is retreating in Sittwe Township itself, according to the sources.
AA troops have captured four more outposts and are pushing at the gates of Shwe Mingan naval base and Sittwe Regional Operations Command, they added.
The attack on Nga Pyi Island was apparently launched because the regime sensed the danger of an imminent siege of its Sittwe stronghold, which sits on a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides.
“Regime navy vessels in Kaladan have repeatedly been attacked by AA drones and artillery from Nga Pyi, so the military wants to get control of the island,” said a Pauktaw resident.
Meanwhile, residents across Sittwe, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun and Rathedaung townships say the regime is bombarding the area daily and firing heavy artillery. “Every day, a dozen aircraft come and strike,” a Sittwe resident said. “Artillery units in Sittwe launches daily volleys toward Nga Pyi.”
Fighting is also intensifying in the state’s other major regime stronghold of Kyaukphyu, which is home to massive Chinese investment projects. There the AA has overrun two regime outposts near Taung Maw Oo naval base. The military is reinforcing positions as far afield as Chin State as well as the Rakhine borders of Magwe, Bago and Ayeyarwady.
Except for Sittwe and Kyaukphyu and the sparsely populated island of Manaung, the AA now controls all of Rakhine as well as Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State.
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