Myanmar’s junta chief said on Wednesday “foreign experts” were helping ethnic minority armed groups in their widespread offensive against the military along the northern border with China.
Clashes have raged across Myanmar’s northern Shan State after an armed alliance of three ethnic minority groups launched surprise attacks against the military in October, reports online news portal the Irrawaddy.
Ethnic armed organisations: the Arakan Army(AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) are three constituents of the Three Brotherwood Alliance. This alliance launched a joint military operation against Junta on October 27 this year known as ‘Operation 1027’.
The groups have seized dozens of military positions and a town important for trade with neighbouring countries, in the biggest military challenge to the junta since it seized power in 2021.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said “foreign drone experts” had been involved in attacks on military outposts last month in northern Shan State, according to a junta statement.
Ethnic minority rebels had been using “drones with advanced technology” to attack junta positions, he said without elaborating. He did not specify which country the “foreign experts” were from.
The military had withdrawn from some positions in the face of attacks by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a member of the alliance, which used drones to drop bombs, he said, without giving details, writes the portal.
Since deposing the democratic government in 2021, the military has struggled to quell armed resistance from civilian anti-junta People’s Defence Force groups.
But the new offensive—which has seized towns and blocked vital trade routes —poses the biggest threat yet to the generals, the portal says.
Almost 200 civilians, including children, have been killed and nearly 335,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since the offensive began on Oct. 27, according to the United Nations.