In Myanmar, anti-junta forces claim capture of first administrative headquarters in fight back against military coup
- Myanmar’s exiled opposition said resistance fighters had seized control of Kawlin, Saigang, about 200km north of the country’s second biggest city
- It marks the first time that an administrative district capital has been attacked and captured since the February 2021 coup, the opposition said
Sagaing has been a stronghold of armed resistance to the army, which has responded with major offensives using ground troops supported by artillery and air strikes, burning down villages and driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
Loosely organised resistance groups opposed to army rule, known as the People’s Defence Force, or PDF, have sprang up around the country since the army’s takeover. They have made alliances with well-established armed ethnic minority groups such as the Kachin and Karen, who have been fighting in border areas for greater autonomy from the central government for more than half a century.
Kawlin, which is about 200km (125 miles) north of Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city, is the principal town of Kawlin district.
Clashes began there at dawn on Friday with coordinated attacks by a combined force of at least three local resistance groups including the Kawlin People’s Defence Force, according to reports posted online by media groups sympathetic to the resistance struggle.
Outlets including Khit Thit Media also posted video online showing what they said were members of the resistance clearing the bodies of soldiers and police killed in battle from damaged buildings.