Myanmar’s rebel forces have captured a town that was controlled by the ruling military junta.
Sources with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, as well as witnesses and local news outlets, say the rebel forces attacked the northern town of Kawlin last Friday and battled with local security forces until taking control of the town’s police station and administrative offices by early Monday morning.
Kawlin is the administrative capital of the Sagaing region. The takeover of Kawlin is the first administrative capital taken by rebel forces since the military’s overthrow of the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
The National Unity Government is composed of members of the ousted civilian government. A loose alliance of ethnic rebel forces who have been fighting the military for decades for greater autonomy have formed the People’s Defense Force, which has been engaged in a deadly rural conflict with the military since the coup.
A group of rebel forces recently launched a series of surprise attacks on junta targets along the Chinese border.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
