2021-05-08
The fledgling National Unity Government is trying to unify numerous local “People’s Defense Forces” that have sprung up across Myanmar.
Protester holding a placard supporting the Kachin Independence Army and Kachin Independence Organization during a demonstration against the military junta in Hpakant in Myanmar's Kachin state, May 3, 2021,
A rebel army and a local militia have killed 40 Myanmar junta soldiers in two days of fighting this week in regions near the country’s northern and western borders, witnesses reported, in what would be the largest number of casualties inflicted on security forces since the Feb. 1 military coup.
The killing of 30 regime troops by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the northernmost state of Kachin, and of 10 junta soldiers in the neighboring Sagaing region by a newly formed township militia were reported by villagers Friday and have not been confirmed by the rebels or the military regime.