Burmese anti-coup fighters briefly seized several border outposts after junta-aligned militia defected and joined the rebels, sparking days of heavy clashes, state media reported yesterday.
Fighting has ravaged swathes of the country since the military’s 2021 putsch, with some established ethnic rebel groups training and fighting alongside newer People’s Defence Forces (PDF) against the junta.
Rugged Kayah state on the border with Thailand has become a resistance hot spot, hosting thousands of democracy protesters-turned-PDF fighters.
Photo: AP
Five border posts in the state guarded by Border Guard Force (BGF) troops had come under “massive attacks” from anti-coup fighters from June 13 to Monday last week, state media said.
Border Guard Forces are made up of former ethnic rebels now working with the military in exchange for local autonomy and lucrative business rights.
They are often deployed side by side with regular troops.
Communications with a BGF post in Pantain, southeast Kayah, were cut for several days, the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar reported.
Fighters at the BGF post “had betrayed the state and the Tatmadaw [military] by launching a rebellion” and joining anti-coup fighters, the report said, without specifying how many had defected.
The defectors had taken weapons and ammunition with them, the report said.
Backed by air and artillery strikes, the military retook the post at Pantain on June 17, it added.
Another BGF post in Sukpaing was recaptured on Tuesday.
The military had suffered casualties in officers and other ranks, it said, without giving details.
Dozens of junta troops had defected, said the opposition National Unity Government, which is made up mostly of ousted lawmakers and is working to overturn the coup.
PDF groups have surprised the military with their effectiveness, analysts have said, and have dragged the military into a bloody quagmire.
In February, the junta said that it did not “fully control” more than one-third of the country’s townships.
Yesterday, a bridge on a highway linking commercial hub Yangon with the Thai border was mined and partially destroyed, local media reported.
A drone attack on soldiers and officials inspecting the damage killed two and injured dozens, said a military source who did not want to be named, as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Battling fierce opposition on the ground, experts have said the military is resorting to artillery strikes and air power.
On Tuesday, a military airstrike on a village in northern Sagaing region — another hotbed of resistance to junta rule — killed 10 civilians, locals and media reports said.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
RSS