At least 19 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in a fresh round of fighting between the military and ethnic militants in Myanmar’s troubled northern regions, Press TV reported.

An official with Myanmar’s military said on Saturday that two dozen people had been wounded in the skirmishes that broke out outside the town of Muse in Shan State on the road to Lashio.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay said all but four of those killed were civilians, adding that one police officer and three state-backed militia members were killed by “terrorists” who had attacked joint military and militia posts and a casino earlier in the day. Htay rejected the attacks were meant to vindicate ethnic rights.

“It is just a destructive terrorist attack,” said Htay, adding, “The attack to target innocent people is not asking for ethnic rights.”

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, claimed the attacks that sparked the fighting. It said the attack was a response to the government's heavy crackdown in Shan as well as in the neighboring state of Kachin. </s> Yangon: At least 19 people were killed Saturday in northern Myanmar when ethnic rebels attacked security force posts in restive Shan State, army and government sources said, the most deadly flare-up in recent years as fighting in the borderlands intensifies.

Rights defenders say clashes in the north near the China border have ramped up since January as the international community focuses on the Rohingya crisis in the west of the country.

The military stands accused of carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the stateless minority in Rakhine.

Saturday's operation was launched by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, one of several insurgent groups fighting for more autonomy in the north.

Images and video from the skirmishes shared on social media showed armed men fanning out across a residential street while a rebel soldier took cover behind a car. The sound of automatic gunfire filled the air as ambulances picked up the wounded.

"Nineteen (people) were killed in fighting," the Myanmar military source said, adding that two dozen had been wounded.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay said in a Facebook post that one police officer and three state-backed militia members had been killed while 15 of the dead were innocent civilians.

"The attack to target innocent people is not asking for ethnic rights," he said. "It is just a destructive terrorist attack."

A statement posted on the page of Myanmar's commander-in-chief said military columns were in pursuit of the "terrorist insurgents".

TNLA spokesman Major Mai Aik Kyaw told AFP that they attacked joint military and militia posts in the Shan State town of Muse and on a road to Lashio.

"We fight because of heavy fighting in our region and the serious offensive in Kachin State," he said, referring to fresh confrontations in Myanmar's northernmost state between the military and the TNLA-aligned Kachin Independence Army.

It is unclear if members of the powerful Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, took part in the attacks on Saturday though the commander-in-chief's post said they did.

More than 100,000 displaced people now reside in camps in Kachin and Shan states since a ceasefire between the KIA the military broke down in 2011, according to the latest UN statistics.

Those fleeing violence have sheltered in tents and even churches in Kachin, which is mainly Christian, as rights groups and rebels accuse the military of blocking aid.

Myanmar's patchwork of ethnic groups make up round a third of the population, but the Bamar, or Burmese, have filled the Buddhist-majority country's power structures since independence in 1948.

Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi said ending Myanmar's long history of clashes was her main priority after she took power in 2016, but she shares power with the military that fought the insurgencies for decades.

More than a third of Myanmar's townships are affected by unresolved conflict, according to a 2017 report from the Asia Foundation.

Suu Kyi managed to bring two ethnic groups into a ceasefire accord in February, adding to eight others who had signed the deal before she took office.

Reverend Hkalam Samsun, chairman of the Kachin Baptist Convention, said the Kachin people were "disappointed" with Suu Kyi.

"She should stand firm with the people but she compromised with the military," he said.

"She ignored the ethnic issue." </s> YANGON
• At least 19 people were killed yesterday in northern Myanmar when ethnic rebels attacked security force posts in restive Shan state, army and local sources said, the most deadly flare-up in recent years as fighting in the borderlands intensifies.

The conflict in the north of Myanmar has escalated over the past month and the latest attack marks a further setback for civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi's stated priority of achieving peace amid a stuttering transition from full military rule.

Rights defenders say clashes in the north near the main border gate with China have ramped up since January as the international community focuses on the Rohingya crisis in the west of the country.

The military stands accused of carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the stateless minority in Rakhine.

Yesterday's operation was launched by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), one of several insurgent groups fighting for more autonomy in the north.

Images and video from the skirmishes shared on social media showed armed men fanning out across a residential street while a rebel soldier took cover behind a car. The sound of automatic gunfire filled the air as ambulances picked up the wounded.

"Nineteen (people) were killed in fighting," the Myanmar military source said, adding that two dozen had been wounded.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay said in a Facebook post that one police officer and three state-backed militia members had been killed while 15 of the dead were innocent civilians.

He called the operation "terrorism". "The attack to target innocent people is not asking for ethnic rights," he said. "It is just a destructive terrorist attack."

He said the military would pursue the armed group.

TNLA spokesman Mai Aik Kyaw told Agence France-Presse that they attacked joint military and militia posts in the Shan state town of Muse and on a road to Lashio.

"We fight because of heavy fighting in our region and the serious offensive in Kachin state," he said, referring to fresh confrontations in Myanmar's northernmost state between the military and the TNLA-aligned Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

It is unclear if members of the powerful KIA took part in the attacks yesterday.

More than 100,000 displaced people now reside in camps in Kachin and Shan states since a ceasefire between the KIA and the military broke down in 2011, according to the latest United Nations statistics.

Myanmar's military frequently clashes with several groups, which say they are fighting for greater autonomy for ethnic minorities in the area, through which much of Myanmar's foreign trade flows.

Myanmar's patchwork of ethnic groups make up around a third of the population. </s> At least 19 people were killed in clashes between Myanmar’s military and an ethnic insurgent group in the remote northern Shan state close to the Chinese border, AFP reported quoting unidentified military officials.

Among the dead were 18 civilians and a policeman, DPA reported. About 32 people, including 27 civilians, three policemen, and two local paramilitary troopers were injured in the attack.

The encounters between the Myanmar military and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, have reportedly increased in recent months while the global focus has remained on the Rohingya refugee crisis in the western part of the country.

“Fighting took place since 5 am this morning [4 am Indian Standard Time] at three places: two military bases in Muse and one near a bridge on the way to Lashio town,” the rebel group’s spokesperson Major Mai Aik Kyaw told AFP.

The TNLA claimed that its attack was a response to the Myanmar Army’s recent offensives against the Kachin Independence Army, which is one Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic minority armed groups.
At least 8 people are killed and more than a dozen others are injured following an attack on Tatmadaw checkpoints, police outposts and the 105th Mile Trade Center by several insurgent groups in Muse, Shan State. The State Counselor's office issues a statement claiming that the Kachin Independence Army, Ta'ang National Liberation Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army were involved in the attack.