The Arakan Army (AA) and its allied resistance forces captured the regime outpost in Nyaungkyo village near Okeshitpin town in Pandaung Township on Thursday after a 35 day siege, a frontline source in Bago Region confirmed to DVB.
“Nyaungkyo [outpost] is seized along with regime troops and ammunition. We still don’t know the ranks and titles of troops captured. Some troops abandoned the outpost for the Chinkone outpost,” said the source on the condition of anonymity.
The Chinkone outpost, also located in Pandaung Township, was already under siege by AA-led resistance forces. This has allowed the AA to block regime supply routes.
Pandaung is located 188 miles (302 km) north of the region’s capital Bago and 89 miles (143 km) east of Taungup, Arakan State. The AA has been engaged in battle with regime forces over control of the Nyaungkyo outpost since late February.
The regime reportedly deployed nearly 300 troops to defend the outpost given that it is located only 11 miles (18 km) from the Directorate of Defence Industries (DDI) 6, known in Burmese as KaPaSa, located in Nyaung Chay Htauk village of Pandaung Township. DDI 6 refines raw materials for manufacturing arms and ammunition for the military.
The outpost also served as a defence line for DDI 5, which produces gunpowder for bombs and artillery shells; DDI 9, which manufactures 5.5 mm, 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm, and 9 mm bullets; and DDI 16, which produces acids and gunpowder. All are located in Okeshitpin town in Pandaung.
Zin Yaw, a Burma Army defector who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) after the 2021 military coup, told DVB that if the AA took control of the Nyaungkyo outpost it would pose a “significant threat” to DDI 6, as well as to Pyay Township, in Bago.
The AA seized control of the Taungpongyi outpost located along the Taungup-Pandaung Road leading from Arakan into Bago in January. It also seized the Pakankwalkya, Natsinkone and Tawadaing outposts in Pandaung last month.
