Myanmar rebels say 22 recruits dead in army attack Skip to main content

Myanmar rebels say 22 recruits dead in army attack

A heavy artillery attack by the Myanmar army in the far north has killed 22 Kachin rebels and injured 15 when it hit a training camp near the rebel stronghold town of Laiza. 

YANGON: Ethnic minority Kachin rebels in the far north of Myanmar said 22 of their troops were killed in an army heavy artillery attack on Wednesday (Nov 19), amid foundering efforts to reach a nationwide peace deal.

The barrage also injured 15 when it hit fighters at a training camp near the rebel stronghold town of Laiza, a spokesman for group said, in the largest attack in recent months in a conflict that has uprooted tens of thousands of people and tempered optimism over political reforms.

"It's the biggest loss for us in a single attack, compared with the fighting in recent years," La Nan, of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), told AFP. Myanmar's quasi-civilian government has said negotiating a historic nationwide ceasefire is a central pillar of reforms that have seen the country open to the world since the end of outright military rule in 2011.

But talks to end the country's multiple conflicts in ethnic minority border areas have so far ended in frustration. The government has inked ceasefires with 14 of the 16 major armed ethnic groups, but deals with the KIA and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in eastern Shan state have proved elusive.

The last round of meetings in late September ended without resolution, with fighting ongoing in Kachin and clashes flaring in a number of eastern border regions. According to the United Nations, some 100,000 people have been displaced in remote, resource-rich Kachin since a 17-year ceasefire between the government and the rebels broke down in June 2011.

Peace negotiator Hla Maung Shwe, at the Yangon-based Myanmar Peace Centre, said he had been informed of the attack and the group had sent information to the government. "We are trying to reduce this kind of fighting," he said. Another round of ceasefire talks is expected to be held next week, he added.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chronology of the Press in Burma

1836 – 1846 * During this period the first English-language newspaper was launched under British-ruled Tenasserim, southern  Burma . The first ethnic Karen-language and Burmese-language newspapers also appear in this period.     March 3, 1836 —The first English-language newspaper,  The Maulmain Chronicle , appears in the city of Moulmein in British-ruled Tenasserim. The paper, first published by a British official named E.A. Blundell, continued up until the 1950s. September 1842 —Tavoy’s  Hsa-tu-gaw  (the  Morning Star ), a monthly publication in the Karen-language of  Sgaw ,  is established by the Baptist mission. It is the first ethnic language newspaper. Circulation reached about three hundred until its publication ceased in 1849. January 1843 —The Baptist mission publishes a monthly newspaper, the Christian  Dhamma  Thadinsa  (the  Religious Herald ), in Moulmein. Supposedly the first Burmese-language newspaper, it continued up until the first year of the second Angl

ARSA claims ambush on Myanmar security forces

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on Sunday claimed responsibility for an ambush on Myanmar security forces that left several wounded in northern Rakhine state, the first attack in weeks in a region gutted by violence. Rakhine was plunged into turmoil last August, when a series of ARSA raids prompted a military backlash so brutal the UN says it likely amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya minority. The army campaign sent some 650,000 Rohingya fleeing for Bangladesh, where refugees have given harrowing accounts of rape, murder and arson at the hands of security forces and vigilantes. Myanmar's military, which tightly controls information about Rakhine, denies any abuses and insists the crackdown was a proportionate response to crush the "terrorist" threat. ARSA have launched few attacks in recent months.  But the army reported that "about ten" Rohingya terrorists ambushed a car with hand-made mines and gunfire on Friday morning

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do