Powerful ethnic armed group in western Myanmar claims to capture base and hundreds of soldiers

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful ethnic armed group battling Myanmar’s army in the country’s west claims it took hundreds of government soldiers prisoner when it captured a major command post. The Arakan Army is the well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement and it has been attacking army outposts in the western state of Rakhine for about six months. The group said in a video statement posted on social media Monday that soldiers belonging to the Operational Command No. 15 headquarters in Rakhine’s Buthidaung township surrendered after a siege. The capture of the base has not been confirmed. The struggle in Rakhine is part of the nationwide conflict in Myanmar that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.