Myanmar army, insurgents battle over port city

Nov 17 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s army has launched assaults from the air and the ocean to recapture a port city on the Bay of Bengal, an opposition alliance mentioned on Friday, as junta forces face the fiercest offensive from their enemies in years.

The army, which seized energy from an elected authorities in a 2021 coup, is battling a coordinated offensive launched final month by an alliance of three ethnic minority rebel teams, in addition to allied pro-democracy fighters who’ve taken up arms for the reason that coup.

“The army attacked Pauktaw city with helicopters and artillery hearth from a navy ship after we conquered the police station of the city within the morning,” the Three Brotherhood Alliance mentioned on its Telegram channel, referring to the preventing in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State on Thursday.

“Within the night, junta troops got here into the city and shot and killed civilians,” the alliance mentioned.

Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the report and a junta spokesperson didn’t reply to request for remark.

Pauktaw is about 500 km (310 miles ) northwest of Myanmar’s primary metropolis of Yangon.

The offensive, which the rebel alliance calls “Operation 1027” after the date it was launched, is the greatest the junta has confronted in years.

Three insurgent teams, aligned with pro-democracy fighters and a parallel, pro-democracy civilian authorities, have captured a number of cities and army posts throughout the nation.

The Irrawaddy information portal, citing a resident of Pauktaw, mentioned members of the Arakan Military (AA) guerrilla group had earlier taken management of the city.

“All of the residents are operating away. There is no such thing as a one within the metropolis, all of the outlets are closed,” the resident mentioned.

Preventing has additionally damaged out in Shan State on the border with China the place the insurgents have pledged to wrest management of the realm from the junta and eradicate on-line rip-off centres run illegally there.

Within the weeks earlier than the clashes, Chinese language officers referred to as on the junta to take stronger motion in opposition to the rip-off centres the place Chinese language and different overseas nationals have been identified to be trapped as victims of human trafficking.

A whole lot of hundreds of individuals have been trafficked to work in rip-off centres throughout Southeast Asia lately, together with a minimum of 120,000 in Myanmar, robbing strangers of their financial savings on-line in a fast-growing new form of crime, the United Nations says.

Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun accused the insurgent alliance of attempting to get China’s help for his or her trigger.

“China is absolutely eager to get rid of on-line rip-off actions, and (the alliance) is utilizing that state of affairs with a technique to achieve advantages for his or her organisation,” he mentioned in an announcement on Thursday.

Junta state media mentioned on Friday it had handed three Chinese language nationals accused of operating scams over to China, whereas a fourth suspect shot himself after being captured.

The Chinese language authorities couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

Dozens of junta troops have surrendered within the preventing, in keeping with insurgent forces and a video verified by Reuters, and extra have fled into neighbouring India.

The junta says it’s battling terrorists and has ordered all authorities employees and people with army expertise to organize to serve in case of emergency.

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Rules.