Insurgents kill 13 police officers in Myanmar

Fighters opposed to Myanmar’s military junta seized a police station in the eastern town of Mobye on Sunday and claimed to have killed at least 13 members of the security forces and captured four, local media said.

Videos shared on social media showed what appeared to be the dead bodies of security forces in the latest attack of a general upsurge of conflict in parts of Myanmar since the February 1 coup that overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

A gun battle also erupted near the Chinese border early on Sunday, while on Saturday an armed ethnic group opposed to the coup launched an attack on a jade mining town on the other side of Myanmar, near India.

Video from Mobye showed bodies in the uniforms of the security forces, while other pictures showed four men who were said to be police with their hands behind their backs and blindfolded with surgical masks.

A police vehicle was shown in flames as dozens of fighters milled at the scene.

Reuters was unable to reach a junta spokesman or to independently confirm the video or the accounts of the fighting.

EU denounces junta’s plan to dissolve NLD

The European Union on Sunday denounced a proposal by Myanmar’s junta-appointed election commission to dissolve deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), which overwhelmingly won the general election in November.

“If the commission were to proceed with this proposal, it would show yet again the junta’s blatant disregard for the will of Myanmar’s people and for due legal process,” a spokeswoman of the EU’s executive Commission said.

The EU echoed the NLD’s position, underscoring the party’s victory had been confirmed by all independent domestic and international observers. “No repression or unfounded pseudo-legal proceedings can grant legitimacy to the junta’s illegal takeover of power,” the spokeswoman for the EU Commission said.

Junta suspends more than 125,000 teachers

More than 125,000 school teachers - nearly a third of the total - have been suspended for joining a civil disobedience movement to oppose the coup, an official of the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation said.