Setback for Myanmar junta as ethnic groups claim key northern town

An armed ethnic alliance in Myanmar claimed to have taken a northern town notorious for online scamming compounds in another blow to the embattled junta.

The Brotherhood Alliance — made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) — said on Saturday that the town was now under their control.

"All members from the Myanmar Army's Military Operational Command in Laukkai were disarmed and Laukkai became a clean area where there are no more members of the Myanmar Army," the alliance said in a statement.

The statement added that scores of junta soldiers, including some officers, had been captured and disarmed.

The groups were accompanied by individuals from the loosely organised People's Defence Force, supported by Myanmar's parallel National Unity Government (NUG), suggesting that the rebellion is taking on an increased level of coordination and planning.

The junta has not commented yet.

Laukkai is the latest town to fall to the alliance alongside vital border hubs, damaging trade with China for the cash-strapped junta.

The military is facing its biggest threat to power since seizing power in a 2021 coup after three ethnic armed groups — known as the Brotherhood Alliance — launched a sweeping October offensive in northern Shan state.

For months, people have been fleeing Laukkai town, located in a district bordering China that is run by a military-aligned militia and notorious for gambling and online scams.