Myanmar’s army on Saturday battled local militia fighters in the northwestern town of Mindat, to try to quell a rebellion that has sprung up in opposition to the junta which seized power in February.
The fighting is reportedly some of the heaviest since the coup and highlights the growing chaos amidst daily protests, strikes and sabotage attacks after it overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The junta imposed martial law in Mindat on Thursday and then stepped up attacks on what it has described as armed terrorists adding that security forces would work day and night to bring order.
Army-controlled Myawaddy television said around 1,000unscrupulous people had attacked with small arms and homemade grenades in recent days, and that some members of the security forces were killed and others missing.
However, Doctor Sasa, minister of international cooperation in a shadow National Unity Government set up to rival the junta said Five civilians had been killed in Mindat in the past two days.
The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar also said in a statement that the military’s use of weapons of war against civilians, including this week in Mindat, is a show of the extent the regime would go in order to hold on to power.
The statement has also called on the military to cease violence against civilians.
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