Attacks by Rebels in Myanmar Leave Dozens Dead
anner through dialogue and deliberation." Mr. Min Zaw Oo, the analyst, said
that the fighting on Monday appeared to have been less intense than a clash in the Kokang region in 2015, in which dozens of government soldiers and police officers were killed and many members of the Kokang ethnic group fled to China. that the parties involved should resolve their differences in a peaceful m
But the attacks in Laukkai on Monday underscored how the Kokang rebels
and other armed groups along Myanmar’s border with China were actively trying to subvert the peace process, he said, even as groups along the Thai border have actively engaged in it.
In a separate statement on Monday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi said: "I would like to strongly urge all the armed groups to abandon armed attacks
that can bring about nothing but sorrows and sufferings on the innocent local tribes and races, and to join the dialogue for national peace." Video clips circulating online and in Myanmar’s news media on Tuesday showed burning buildings in Laukkai and rebel fighters exchanging fire with the military.
Another problem was that the agreement, which primarily included armed groups near Myanmar’s border with Thailand,
did not cover groups in a wide stretch of territory along the Chinese border, including the Kokang rebels.
U Min Zaw Oo, a political analyst in Yangon who advises a government peace commission, said
that he believed the rebel group currently had about 1,000 to 1,500 fighters and that it targeted casinos in Laukkai controlled by rivals in the Kokang community who are loyal to the Myanmar government.
The office of Myanmar’s de facto leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, said in a statement on Monday evening
that the rebel group, known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, had attacked a hotel, casinos and police and army posts in the town of Laukkai in Shan State.