Ethnic groups press offensive vs Myanmar junta

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) – Myanmar ethnic armed groups seized a handful of outposts on Saturday as they pressed their offensive against the junta in the north of the country, local media reports said.

Fighting has ramped up across vast swathes of northern Shan state near the Chinese border this week, forcing more than 23,000 people from their homes, according to the United Nations.

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the

Arakan Army (AA) say they have captured dozens of outposts and four towns and blocked vital trade routes to China.

Local media reports said TNLA fighters on Saturday seized two outposts controlled by pro-military militia near Lashio, the largest town in northern Shan state and home to the military’s northeastern command.

The MNDAA said it had seized three military outposts further to the east.

The junta was yet to comment on Saturday’s clashes but on Thursday a spokesman dismissed as “propaganda” claims that the alliance had captured several towns in Shan state.

The junta on Saturday said the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), another ethnic armed group based in neighboring Kachin state, had joined the attacks on its forces, and that it would retaliate.

Local media reported the junta had shelled the remote town of Laiza on the Chinese border, home to the KIA’S headquarters.

AFP has attempted to reach the TNLA and KIA for comment.

AFP journalists were stopped Saturday in China’s Yunnan province at a permanent police checkpoint about 50 kilometers (30 miles) up the valley from the border crossing of Chinshwehaw, which the Myanmar military said on Wednesday it had lost control over.

Chinese policemen said only people living beyond the checkpoint or others who had gained special authorization could currently pass, due to recent security concerns about ongoing clashes occurring across the border.

“We’re now in special circumstances,” an officer told AFP. “Unless necessary, no one can go in.”

China called on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire in Shan state – part of a planned billion-dollar rail route in its Belt and Road infrastructure project.

Myanmar’s borderlands are home to more than a dozen ethnic armed groups, some of which have fought the military for decades over autonomy and control of lucrative resources.

There are also turf wars with pro-military aligned militia over criminal enterprises ranging from drug smuggling and casinos to prostitution and cyber scams.