Burma-Myanmar: Arakan Army (AA) rebels claim control of port town of Pauktaw causing a serious blow to the junta
The Arakan Army (AA), a Myanmar ethnic minority rebel group, has claimed taking control of a port town in a blow to the country’s military junta.
The armed group seized control of the town after more than two months of intense clashes with junta troops, they said late Wednesday, adding that it “completely controlled” Pauktaw, a town of 20,000 people close to a crucial deepwater port in the capital of western Rakhine state.
AA fighters briefly seized Pauktaw in November, shattering a fragile cease-fire that had largely held since the military coup in 2021.
The junta has used artillery and naval ships to bombard the town almost daily since, and strafed it with gunfire from helicopters, residents have told AFP.