Dhaka Tribune,AFP

Publish: 25 Jan 2024, 05:06 PMUpdate : 25 Jan 2024, 05:06 PM

Fighters from a Myanmar ethnic minority armed group haveseized control of a port town after more than two months of intense clasheswith junta troops, they said.

The Arakan Army (AA) said on late Wednesday it"completely controlled" Pauktaw, a town of 20,000 people close to acrucial deepwater port in the capital of western Rakhine state.

AA fighters briefly seized Pauktaw in November, shattering afragile ceasefire that had largely held since the military's coup in 2021.

The junta has used artillery and naval ships to bombard thetown almost daily since, and strafed it with gunfire from helicopters,residents have told AFP.

New Google Earth images of Pauktaw showed a block of thedowntown area reduced almost entirely to rubble and damage to several buildingsnear its harbour.

Several buildings in the police station compound weredestroyed too. Junta troops had left the town by boat on the evening of January19, a source close to the AA told AFP, requesting anonymity.

AA fighters had set up checkpoints around the town and onThursday exchanged fire with a military naval vessel, the source said.

AFP was unable to confirm the AA claim, and communicationswith Pauktaw remained patchy. A source close to the AA told AFP earlier thisweek that its fighters were conducting "clearance operations" in thetown. The junta has not commented on recent clashes in Pauktaw.

Around 18,000 people had been displaced from the area due tofighting, the United Nations said in November.

Pauktaw is 25 kilometres east of the state capital Sittwe,home to a deepwater port partly financed by India as it seeks to deepeneconomic linkages with Myanmar.

Earlier this week, Myanmar's chambers of commerce hostedtalks with an Indian business delegation on "upgrading" operations atSittwe port, junta-backed media reported on Thursday.

Travel between Sittwe and Pauktaw was severely restricted bynew military gates and checkpoints, a Pauktaw resident currently in Sittwe toldAFP on Thursday, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

In its Wednesday statement, the AA said "intense"clashes were ongoing in Mrauk-U, Minbya, Kyauktaw and Rathedaung townships inRakhine, without giving details.

The AA has fought an on-and-off war for years, seeking moreautonomy for the state's ethnic Rakhine population.

It is one of dozens of ethnic minority armed groups thathave battled Myanmar's military since independence from Britain in 1948.

Some groups want greater autonomy, while others simply wantthe right to run the lucrative trade in jade, drugs and timber in theirterritory.

The clashes in Rakhine come as the military and ethnicminority armed groups in northern Shan state accuse each other of breaching aChina-brokered ceasefire.

Fighting had raged along the border with China since lateOctober, with the military losing control of several towns and vital tradecrossings to its northern neighbour.

File photo: Arakan Army (AA) troops in Taung Shay Taungoutpost. Photo: Collected