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Myanmar’s military bombed a village in an economic zone that is vital to China’s investment in Myanmar, sparking a fire that burned almost 200 homes, residents told Radio Free Asia, as insurgents tightened their grip on the junta’s last pockets of territory in Rakhine state.
The Arakan Army, or AA, is one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic minority insurgent groups and has nearly achieved its goal of defeating the forces of the junta that seized power in 2021 across the whole of Rakhine state.
The military’s two most important remaining Rakhine state strongholds are the state capital of Sittwe, and the Kyaukpyu economic zone, where China has major energy interests and plans a deep-sea port as a hub for its Belt and Road development strategy.
AA fighters battling to capture Kyaukpyu are concentrating on a naval base protecting the zone, and the military has been using its navy and air force to try to fend off the advancing insurgents.
Late on Thursday, the military used a drone to attack fighters in the village of U Gin, on the approaches to the naval base, sparking a blaze that engulfed nearly 200 homes, residents said.
“Almost the entire village went up in flames,” one Kyaukpyu resident said of the Thursday night attack.
The resident, who declined to be identified for security reasons, said there were no reports of casualties in the fire as U Gin’s residents had already abandoned their homes and fled because of the fighting.
RFA tried to contact the AA spokesperson, Khaing Thu Kha, and the junta spokesperson for Rakhine state, Hla Thein, to ask about the situation but neither responded by the time of publication.
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On Tuesday this week, the AA captured at least three guard outposts protecting the Danyawaddy naval base, forcing defending junta forces to fall back, said another resident who also declined to be identified.
“Now the junta troops are holding out in front of the headquarters,” the resident said.
The fall of Kyaukpyu would be a major embarrassment for the junta and would force China to deal directly with the AA to protect its economic interest there.
Those interests include oil and gas pipelines running to southern China’s Yunnan province, which would be vital for China in the event of war any disruption of energy shipments through the South China Sea.
Fighting is also heavy around the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe, residents there said.
Junta forces trying to repel advancing AA troops attacked War Bo village on Sittwe’s outskirts on Thursday, destroying 35 homes, residents said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff.