01 June 

Security forces fully reclaimed three strategic locations the AA terrorists took over located 2500 meters southwest of Paletwa, Chin State, at 8 am yesterday morning.

This statement was made from the office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services which said the three strategic points were Point-602, Point-565, and Point-540 and gave the AA opportunities to threaten the security of Paletwa and the areas along the Kaladan River.

The AA began their operations towards Paletwa in March and first blocked the Kyauktaw-Paletwa path and Matupi-Sami-Paletwa path and proceeded to take over Point-114 near the Ramaung Bridge in Minbya on the Sittway-Yangon Union highway to disrupt public and government transportation.

Security forces reclaimed five locations set up by the AA near Point-114 on 8 May.

The AA had taken control of Points-602, 565 and 540 and abducted Amyotha Hluttaw representative U Hwei Tin of Chin State constituency 11 on 3 November 2019. They also kidnapped eight Indian staff of the C&C company, two translators and five workers working on the Paletwa-Zorampu highway on 23 March 2020.

The AA also fired weapons into Paletwa on 22 April that killed and wounded staff of Myanma Economic Bank and their families and kidnapped Paletwa Municipal Committee Chairman U Myint Maung while disguised as civilians on 12 April.

The AA were also found to have constantly threatened the regional and transportation security of Paletwa region and unlawfully seized donations for local residents supplied by the Chin State government and private donors, in addition to humanitarian aid from WFP, which resulted in security forces beginning to reclaim the area on 24 May.

Security forces began attacking Point-540 on 24 May and seized two sentry posts to the east and southeast on 25 May and one near Point-602 on 30 May. With continuous effort, security forces reclaimed Points-602, 565 and 540 on 31 May.

Security forces sustained casualties and deaths but seized corpses, firearms and various items from the AA terrorists and are continuing area security measures in the region.—

MNA (Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)