BANGKOK (AP) – Myanmar’s military junta has confirmed it has withdrawn troops from a major city on the northeastern border with China after it was taken over by a coalition of ethnic armed groups that have been fighting for months.
The Three Brothers Alliance took control of La Khine late on Thursday, both sides announced on Saturday, after Myanmar’s military laid down its arms and was allowed to withdraw.
Photos and videos on social media showed vast amounts of weapons the alliance claimed to have captured.
Laukhine is the capital of Kokang Autonomous Region, which is geographically part of northern Shan State in Myanmar.
The Three Brothers Alliance is made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’an National Liberation Army, and the Arakan Army. The MNDAA is an army of the Chinese Kokan minority.
Capturing the city was the main goal of the Allied offensive, which began on 27 October.
Myanmar government spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told the pro-military website Popular News Journal on Saturday that the military and local commanders had decided to take control of La Khine after considering many aspects, including the safety of the soldiers’ families. He said he had abandoned it. is stationed there.
He said the military was also considering China-Myanmar relations across the border in La Khine. China maintains good relations with both the military and the ethnic alliance, and has called for an end to the fighting.
The Chinese government protested after an artillery shell landed on its territory on Wednesday, injuring five people. Zaw Min Tun said the alliance carried out the shelling and tried to blame his military for damaging relations with China.
A statement posted by the alliance on social media late Friday declared that the entire Kokang region had become a “military council-free region.”
The newspaper said that by Friday, 2,389 military personnel and their families had surrendered, including six brigadiers, and all had been evacuated to safe locations.
Video clips circulating on social media allegedly showed soldiers and their families being transported in various vehicles. Shwe Pe Myay News Agency, an online news site reporting from Shan state, said many of them were taken to Lashio, the capital of the northern region of Shan state, under an agreement with the MNDAA on repatriation.
The city’s fall to the alliance is the biggest in a series of defeats suffered by Myanmar’s military junta since the offensive began, as it battles pro-democracy guerrillas and other ethnic armed groups across the country. It highlights the pressure.
Ethnic armed groups have been fighting for greater autonomy on and off for decades, but the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Since then, Myanmar has been in the grip of a civil war, prompting armed resistance by pro-militant groups across the country. Democratic forces.
It is not yet clear whether the Three Brothers Alliance will seek to expand its offensive beyond Shan State, but it has vowed to continue fighting the military regime.
The alliance is on the offensive in the fight against the military junta and in an effort to rid the region of major organized crime operations, including a cyber fraud operation controlled by Chinese investors in collusion with local Myanmar warlords, particularly in La Khine. China has publicly sought to stamp out the large-scale criminal industry, with tens of thousands of officials repatriated to China in recent weeks.
However, the attack was also widely seen as an effort by the MNDAA to oust the junta-backed rival Kokan group from power and regain control of the Kokan autonomous region.
MNDAA commander Peng Deren said in a New Year’s speech published on affiliated online media site The Kokang that the alliance had captured more than 250 military targets and five border crossings with China. . He said more than 300 cyber fraud centers were attacked and more than 40,000 Chinese nationals involved in cyber crimes were repatriated.