Ethnic rebels close in on 2 towns in Myanmar’s Rakhine state

The Arakan Army (AA) reported on Friday(12 July) have advanced into two areas in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, making  significant gains and the military junta, says Benar News.

The (AA) said its fighters captured the last junta base on the outskirts of Thandwe town, the headquarters of the Infantry Battalion 55 base, on Tuesday, although junta troops still occupied the town centre.

Thandwe is about 250 km (155 miles) northwest of Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon and near one of Myanmar's main beach resorts.

The AA has captured 10 townships in Rakhine state and neighbouring Chin state, since late last year, part of a series of setbacks for the embattled junta.

In the north of Rakhine state near the border with Bangladesh, about 350 km (217 miles) northwest of Thandwe, the AA announced that its forces had seized the Ma Gyi Chaung Border Guard Camp on Thursday and was pressing junta forces at Border Guard Post No. 5 and in nearby Maungdaw town.

The insurgents said this week its forces had killed more than 750 junta soldiers in those two main battle zones. Radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews, was not able to independently verify the toll, but residents of both regions have been reporting heavy fighting for weeks.

The Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun did not respond to RFA requests for comment.

Since the AA warned residents to leave Maungdaw on June 16, more than 5,000 people have fled to Bangladesh, which is across a border estuary, said one town resident who declined to be identified for security concerns.

"There are at least 80 to 100 Rohingya people fleeing to Bangladesh [every day]," he said. "Boats from Bangladesh come to pick them up."

Despite fighting in Maungdaw town, Bangladesh authorities have forced at least 12 refugees back into Myanmar, residents said. The Bangladesh Embassy in Yangon did not respond to RFA's request for comment. 

More than 700,000 members of the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority fled to Bangladesh in 2017 after the Myanmar military launched a crackdown against Muslim insurgents.

Junta troops cross into Bangladesh

Two residents of Maungdaw town were killed in the latest heavy weapons fire and 13 were injured, residents said.

"There is no medical doctor here or no access to medical treatment," a Rohingya resident in Maungdaw, who identified himself as Zu Bai, told RFA. "When an opportunity came up, the injured were taken to Bangladesh."

The junta's spokesman for Rakhine state, Hla Thein, did not respond to an RFA request for comment.

The AA did not give any update on casualties, either among junta forces or its own, but said 30 junta soldiers and border guards fled into Bangladesh during fighting on Thursday. 

The Dhaka Tribune reported that over 100 junta border police officers and soldiers crossed the border on Thursday to seek refuge in Cox's Bazar.Bangladesh Border Guard and Coast Guard forces detained the officers and soldiers who entered the country at three different border points, it said.

RFA sent a second message to Bangladesh's embassy in Yangon on Friday to ask about the junta soldiers and border guards, but no reply was immediately received.

Several hundred junta troops also fled to Bangladesh in February following an attack by the AA.