An armed insurgent alliance in Myanmar has claimed to have captured a northern town home to online fraud hubs, in another blow to Myanmar's embattled junta.
The Muslim Brotherhood Alliance, made up of the Burma National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), said on Friday evening that the city was now under its control.
“All members of the Burma Army Military Task Force in Laukkai have been disarmed and Laukkai has become a clean zone with no Burma Army personnel left,” the alliance said in its statement.
For months, people have been fleeing the town of Laukkai, which lies in a district on the border with China and is controlled by a military militia that engages in gambling, prostitution and online fraud.
The alliance statement added that many junta soldiers, including some officers, were captured and disarmed.
The junta had no immediate comment.
Armed conflict has been raging in Shan State in northern Myanmar since an alliance of insurgent ethnic minorities launched an offensive against the military junta in October.
Since then, the alliance has captured several cities and border crossings that are crucial to trade with China. Analysts see this as the biggest military challenge for the junta since its coup in 2021.
Last month, Beijing said it had brokered talks between Myanmar's military and rebel groups and secured a “temporary ceasefire.”
But clashes continued in parts of Shan State and the Chinese embassy last week asked its citizens in Myanmar to evacuate an area along the border due to security risks.
Although China is a major arms supplier and ally of the Burmese regime, relations have been strained in recent months as the junta has failed to crack down on online fraud networks in Burma that Beijing says target Chinese citizens.
And analysts say China has ties with armed ethnic groups in northern Burma, some of which have close ethnic and cultural ties with the Chinese and use Chinese currency and telephone networks in the area they control