Yangon, Myanmar:

An armed ethnic minority group in Myanmar says it has captured a town and several junta posts near the border with Bangladesh and India, the latest blow to the embattled army.

Clashes have erupted in Myanmar’s western Rakhine and Chin states since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked security forces in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the junta’s 2021 coup.

The Arakan Army is one of a dozen armed ethnic minority groups in Myanmar’s border areas, many of whom have fought the army since independence from Britain in 1948 over autonomy and control over lucrative resources.

The group said late Sunday that Arakan Army fighters had captured the town of Paletwa in Chin state, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Bangladesh border.

Paletwa is located on the Kaladan River, which a New Delhi-backed infrastructure initiative hopes to use to connect India’s landlocked north-east to the Bay of Bengal.

The Arakan Army posted photos it said showed its fighters outside the city’s police station and general administration office.

It said it now controls the entire Paletwa township, which had a population of more than 64,000 as of the 2014 census.

The Arakan Army also said it had captured six military bases on the border with India’s Mizoram state.

AFP could not confirm the reports.

In October the Arakan Army and a coalition of two other ethnic minority groups launched a joint offensive into Myanmar’s northern Shan state, capturing towns and key trade centers on the China border.

Last week the coalition announced a China-brokered ceasefire in Shan after months of fighting, posing the biggest threat to the junta since it seized power.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)