Myanmar ethnic armed groups seize beach resort town; launch attacks on junta

“Myanmar ethnic armed groups seized a popular beach resort town in the west of the country and launched dawn attacks on junta positions in the north,” a military source and residents told AFP on June 25.

Fighting is raging across swathes of the Southeast Asian nation as ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy "People's Defence Forces" battle the military, which seized power in a 2021 coup.

Myanmar rebels say dozens of junta forces surrender, captured

In western Rakhine state Arakan Army (AA) fighters have battled security forces for days around Ngapali beach, home to upmarket hotels and resorts owned by military-backed businesses.

“Junta troops and police had retreated to an airport in the town of Thandwe, around two kilometres (more than a mile) away,” a military source, speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.

“Hundreds of kilometres away in northern Shan state, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) launched dawn attacks on the military in the town of Kyaukme,” residents said.

One resident of the town, which sits on a vital highway to China, said they had heard artillery and gunfire around the town since the morning. "Most people from the town are hiding inside their houses," another Kyaukme resident who works for a volunteer rescue team told AFP.

“The TNLA had restricted travel around Kyaukme,” they said, requesting anonymity for security reasons. The AA and TNLA are members of the so-called "Three Brotherhood Alliance" that launched a surprise offensive against the junta last October across northern Shan state.

Their fighters seized swathes of territory and several lucrative trade crossings with China, dealing the junta its biggest blow since it seized power.

In January, China brokered a ceasefire that allowed the alliance to hold on to territory it had captured, but both sides have recently accused each other of breaking the truce.

'Continuous shelling'

The town of Thandwe, a few kilometres from Rakhine's Ngapali beach and home to the local airport, was largely deserted as of Monday, a resident who fled that day told AFP.

"Almost everyone in the town has fled... Very few people are now in Thandwe," said the resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons. "A rocket shell landed in the town yesterday. We also heard continuous heavy artillery shelling."

A local hotel owner who was no longer in the town told AFP his staff said the military had carried out air strikes near the airport on June 24. His employees told him there were "some army and police trapped inside the airport building."

AFP was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment and has contacted an AA spokesman. Thandwe airport has been closed since early this month as AA fighters launched attacks in the area.

Since launching its own offensive in Rakhine state in November, the AA has seized territory along the border with India and Bangladesh. State capital Sittwe is one of the few holdouts for junta troops in Rakhine.

The AA, which says it is fighting for autonomy for the state's ethnic Rakhine population, has vowed to capture the city, home to an India-backed deep sea port and around 2,00,000 people.

Myanmar's borderlands are home to a plethora of ethnic armed groups, many of whom have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948 over autonomy and control of lucrative resources.