On Sunday, the Arakan Army (AA), a powerful ethnic armed group in Myanmar, announced it had seized control of Buthidaung, a town in the western state of Rakhine, following weeks of intense fighting. The AA denied allegations that it targeted the Muslim-minority Rohingya community during its offensive.

Khine Thu Kha, spokesperson for the Arakan Army, confirmed the takeover in a phone interview with Reuters. "We have conquered all the bases in Buthidaung and also took over the town yesterday," he stated. This development marks another setback for Myanmar's ruling junta, which is simultaneously battling multiple opposition groups across the country.

However, some Rohingya activists have accused the AA of targeting their community during the assault. According to Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, AA troops forced residents out of their homes and set buildings ablaze. "AA troops came into downtown, forced the people to leave their homes and started torching houses," he said, citing eyewitness reports. "While the town was burning, I spoke with several people I have known and trusted for years. They all testified that the arson attack was done by the AA."

These claims could not be independently verified, and attempts to reach a junta spokesperson for comment were unsuccessful.

The Rohingya have long faced persecution in Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority country. Nearly a million Rohingyas have been living in refugee camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar since a military crackdown in 2017.

Since the military coup in 2021, Myanmar has been mired in conflict, with resistance groups and ethnic minority rebels intensifying their fight against the junta. The situation escalated in October when an alliance of ethnic armies, including the AA, launched a significant offensive near the Chinese border, capturing extensive territory from the junta.

Estimates suggest that the junta has lost control of about half of its 5,280 military positions, including outposts, bases, and headquarters. The AA's Khine Thu Kha claimed that junta aircraft, along with Muslim insurgent groups aligned with the military, had set parts of Buthidaung on fire before AA troops entered the town. "The burning of Buthidaung is due to the air strikes from the junta's jet fighter before our troops entered the town," he asserted.

Aung Kyaw Moe, a Rohingya civil society activist and deputy minister in Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government, reported that Rohingya residents were urged by the AA to evacuate Buthidaung but had no place to go, leaving them trapped during the attack. "Since about 10 p.m. last night up to this early morning, Buthidaung town had been burning and now only ashes remain," he told Reuters. He added that Rohingya residents fled to nearby fields, potentially resulting in casualties.

The situation in Buthidaung highlights the ongoing turmoil in Myanmar and the dire conditions faced by the Rohingya community amidst the conflict.