Located along the Kaladar River in Chin State, Paletwa is a strategically important city on a major trade route.
The Arakan Army (AA), an armed ethnic group fighting as part of an alliance against the Myanmar military, has claimed control of a key western town near the border with India and Bangladesh.
The AA, which was in an uneasy truce with the army until late October, said it took full control of Paletwa in Chin state on Sunday afternoon, having overrun multiple military posts.
“There is not a single military council camp left in the entire Palewa area,” he said in a statement on his media page, which was accompanied by photographs showing AA soldiers posing with their weapons outside key administrative buildings adorned as well. with the group's flag. as well as weapons, ammunition and military equipment that had been seized.
“The entire Palewa region has been successfully controlled by [the] Rakhine Army,” the statement added.
There was no comment from the military on the situation in Paletwa, nor any reports in state media.
Paletwa's capture is another setback for the generals who face their biggest challenge since they seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in a coup in February 2021.
#AA 🎉declares #PaletwaVictoria! Taking the latest 'Hnamadar' and 'Khan Kha Taung', Paletwa is #SAC_free. “Mee Wa” detained after almost two years of attacks. Today, Paletwa is controlled by the AA. Let us salute the Arakkha soldiers for their bravery, obedience and perfect cooperation. #3BHA#Operation1027 pic.twitter.com/IaCnenjHUa
— Operation 1027-3BHA (@operación1027) January 14, 2024
The AA claims to have about 30,000 soldiers and is part of the so-called Three Brotherhoods Alliance with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta'Ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which launched a major offensive against the military at the end of October.
Known as Operation 1027, the offensive has wrested control of key cities and military outposts near the border with China in the north and given renewed impetus to the anti-coup movement.
Dr Sasa, Minister of International Cooperation in the Government of National Unity created by the politicians ousted by the coup, welcomed the AA's capture of Paletwa.
“This is a significant success for the National Revolution, the Myanmar Spring Revolution, the struggle to liberate the entire population of Myanmar from the genocidal military dictatorship and to restore Myanmar to the path of an inclusive federal democratic Union for ALL.” , wrote. in X.
42nd city to fall
The AA advance comes days after China announced it had brokered a ceasefire between armed groups and the army in northern Shan State. A similar deal in December quickly collapsed.
AA has been fighting the military in Rakhine, where a brutal military crackdown on the Rohingya in 2017 is now the subject of a genocide case before the International Court of Justice, in a bid to secure autonomy for its ethnic population.
Just before Myanmar's national elections in November 2020, AA agreed to a truce with the military, but when the generals took power, AA's political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), took the opportunity to expand and consolidate their power in Rakhine and Fighting resumed amid military concern over AA's growing power.
Chin State lies north of Rakhine and Paletwa is situated along the Kaladan River, about 20 kilometers (12 mi) from the border with Bangladesh.
Nathan Ruser, an analyst with the Cyber, Technology and Security program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, who has been mapping the advance of anti-coup forces, said the city was the 42nd in the entire country to be captured from the army and 16 still are in dispute.
Additionally, 25 battalion headquarters have been captured since the offensive began three months ago, “clearly marking the decisive shift toward offensive warfare by the resistance,” Ruser wrote in X.
The military coup sparked mass demonstrations demanding the restoration of civilian rule, but when the military responded with brutal force, many protesters took up arms and joined forces with armed ethnic groups on the country's borders.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Myanmar advocacy group that has been monitoring the crisis, says at least 4,363 civilians and pro-democracy activists have been killed by the military in the escalating violence, and nearly 20,000 people They have been imprisoned by the regime.
