An ethnic armed alliance in Myanmar on Saturday (6/1) claimed success in capturing a number of cities in the north known as centers of online fraud. This was a blow to the military junta that controlled the country.
The military regime is experiencing the biggest threat to its power since taking over in a 2021 coup, following attacks from three ethnic armed groups known as the Brotherhood Alliance. They carried out a major offensive in October in northern Shan state.
For months, people have fled Laukkai City, a district on the border with China that is run by militias working with the military. The city is known for gambling activities, prostitution and online fraud.
The Brotherhood Alliance – which consists of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) – said the city was now under their control.
“All members of the Myanmar Army Military Operations Command in Laukkai were disarmed and Laukkai became a clean area where there were no longer any members of the Myanmar Army,” the alliance said in its statement.
The statement added that a number of junta soldiers, including several officers, were captured and disarmed.
The junta has not commented on the claims.
Laukkai is the latest city to fall into the alliance and is also an important border hub, which could disrupt trade with China for the cash-strapped junta.
At the end of last month, Beijing asked its citizens to leave the contested region, citing increasing security risks.
Although Beijing is a major arms supplier and ally of the junta, relations have soured in recent months over the junta’s failure to crack down on online fraud sites in Myanmar. China claims the site targets its citizens.
Analysts say China maintains ties with armed ethnic groups in northern Myanmar. Some of these groups even have close ethnic and cultural ties to China and use Chinese currency and telephone networks in areas they control. (ah/ft)