NAYPYITAW, 11 November 2021, (TON): A rebel spokesman said “Myanmar junta troops have clashed with fighters from a major militant group in Rakhine state, breaking a ceasefire that kept the peace in the western region since the coup.”

The Southeast Asian country has been in chaos since the February putsch, with a brutal crackdown on dissent and increased fighting in borderlands involving ethnic armed organisations.

Days after the coup, the junta reaffirmed a commitment to a ceasefire with the Arakan Army (AA), which has fought a bloody war for autonomy for Rakhine state's ethnic Rakhine population.

The ceasefire freed up military troops to battle local "self-defence forces" that have sprung up across the country in opposition to the military.

An AA spokesman told AFP "Around 11:00am yesterday, there was a clash for a few minutes in the north of Maungdaw.”

"It was because the Myanmar military entered the area. Casualty details are not known yet."

Clashes between the AA and the military in 2019 displaced over 200,000 people across the state, one of Myanmar's poorest.