Arakan Army

Bangladesh is working to prevent a fresh influx of stateless and persecuted Rohingya refugees, its caretaker government has said, after thousands crossed the border from Myanmar in recent weeks.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said he is "alarmed" by reports of ongoing Myanmar military air strikes on villages in Rakhine state, where locals told AFP more than 20 people were killed on Monday.

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

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

The spokesman of the military junta that rules Myanmar said that Myanmar's military has lost control of a strategic northern city on the Chinese border after days of clashes with three ethnic armed groups.