Protesters topple junta cell towers

Call to battle: Parts of a destroyed communications tower belonging to Mytel damaged by protesters against the military, in Sagaing. — AFP

Protesters have destroyed around a dozen military-owned communications towers in Myanmar, witnesses and reports said, after the country’s self-proclaimed shadow government issued a call for a “defensive war” against the junta.

The country has been in chaos since the military seized power in February, sparking mass pro-democracy rallies followed by a deadly crackdown and renewed fighting with ethnic rebel militias in border areas.