Rebels move into strategic north

Ever vigilant: Army officers standing guard as police officers patrol in Lashio, in this file photo. — AP

Fighters from the country’s most powerful ethnic minority armed group have moved into a strategic town fought over by the junta and another ethnic armed group for weeks, they and the military said.

Fighting has rocked Lashio in northern Shan State since early this month after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) renewed an offensive against the military.