Rebels ‘shoot down military copter’

Fired up: Protesters burning tyres while others carry a banner that says ‘Kamayut strike will be the fight to the end’ in Yangon. — AP

THE Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of Myanmar’s most powerful rebel groups, said it had shot down a helicopter after returning fire following airstrikes by the military, an official at the group said.

The United Nations estimates that tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes as a result of the fighting between the military and ethnic insurgents in remote northern and eastern frontier regions.