An alliance of Myanmar ethnic groups claim capture of trade crossing

>> An alliance of armed ethnic minority groups that launched a surprise offensive last month against Myanmar's military has seized a major trading gate on the country's northeastern border with China, a spokesperson for one of the groups said Sunday.

Le Kyar Win, the spokesperson of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, told The Associated Press that the Kyin-San-Kyawt border gate, one of the five major trading gates in Muse township along the Myanmar-China border in northern Shan state, was seized on Saturday by the alliance forces.

Muse hosts the 105-Mile Trade Zone and has the greatest volume of trade with China. It is the fourth border crossing seized by the alliance forces in a month of intense fighting.

“We attacked the places controlled by the junta as our military targets,” Le Kyar Win said.

Social media sites associated with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army displayed photos and video of what they said were its forces at the border gate. The claims couldn't immediately be verified.

The military government hasn't publicly acknowledged the capture of the gate.

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson of the ruling military council, said in a statement phoned in to state television MRTV that there was fighting between the army and alliance groups near the 105-Mile Trade Zone, but didn't give additional information.

Kyin-San-Kyawt is the second of five border gates in Muse township that has come under the control of the alliance, along with two others elsewhere.

Fighting has been raging in the region since the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, calling themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance, launched a coordinated offensive on Oct. 27.