Myanmar junta-aligned militia defect to rebels during heavy clashes

Villagers and resistance fighters gather and bury what they say are victims of an airstrike by planes of the military government, outside the town of Pasuang in Myanmar's eastern state of Kayah on on June 25, 2023. - AP)

BANGKOK (AFP): Myanmar anti-coup fighters briefly seized several border outposts after junta-aligned militia defected and joined the rebels, sparking days of heavy clashes, state media reported on Thursday (June 29).

Fighting has ravaged swathes of the country since the military's 2021 putsch, with some established ethnic rebel groups training and fighting alongside newer People's Defence Forces against the junta.