2023-11-04 09:07:23
The armed alliance of ethnic minority groups, behind an ongoing offensive in northern Burma bordering China, seized several military posts on Saturday, according to local media.
This week, fighting intensified in large areas of northern Shan state near the Chinese border, forcing more than 23,000 people from their homes, according to the UN.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army (AA) claim to have seized dozens of outposts and four cities, and blocked important trade routes to China.
According to local media, TNLA fighters on Saturday took control of two outposts manned by pro-regime militias near Lashio, the largest city in northern Shan State.
The MNDAA said it had seized three military outposts further east.
The junta has yet to comment on Saturday’s clashes, but on Thursday a spokesperson dismissed claims that armed groups had seized several towns in Shan state as “propaganda.”
More than a dozen ethnic groups operate in Burma, particularly in the border regions, demanding more political autonomy, control of part of the country’s natural wealth or lucrative trafficking.
Some of them trained and equipped the armed groups made up of political opponents who spread across the country following the 2021 coup and the repression that followed.
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