YANGON: Myanmar's junta said Wednesday (Aug 20) its troops have captured a battlefield town in the country's east, clawing back rebel-contested territory as it prepares to stage a disputed December election.
Demoso -- 105km (65 miles) east of the capital Naypyidaw -- has witnessed intense combat since 2021, when the military deposed the democratic government and sparked a civil war.
The embattled junta plans to hold elections in areas it controls starting on Dec 28 and has been pressing a series of counter-offensives to expand its territorial holdings.
The polls are already being criticised by international monitors as a tactic to rebrand the continuing rule of the military, which has kept democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi jailed since ousting her.
State mouthpiece newspaper the Global New Light of Myanmar said the military captured Demoso township -- encompassing the town and surrounding countryside -- after a 16-day battle that ended Tuesday.
The publication said six bodies were recovered after a coalition of pro-democracy guerrillas and fighters from local ethnic armed organisations were driven out.
"Some of the security force members were wounded and deceased," it added, without giving further details.
A photo showed junta soldiers posing with their rifles aloft in front of a sign reading: "You are warmly welcomed to Demoso".
More than 130,000 people are living displaced in the state of Kayah, where Demoso sits on the crossroads of two highways branching off from the main route linking Naypyidaw and the commercial capital Yangon.
The junta-organised election will take place in phases and is expected to take a matter of weeks.
Conflict monitors say the run-up is likely to see a further spike in violence, as the junta attempts to expand the reach of the vote while its opponents fight to block it in enclaves they control.
A junta-organised census held as preparation for the vote failed to contact nearly four in 10 people in the country of more than 50 million, indicating how limited the poll may be.
Some democratic lawmakers ousted in the coup have called for it to be boycotted, while Suu Kyi's immensely popular National League for Democracy party remains dissolved.
"The terrorist military group is attempting to stage an illegitimate and fraudulent election to sustain its grip on power," the National Unity Government -- a self-proclaimed administration in exile dominated by former parliamentarians -- said in a statement.
"All revolutionary groups are urged to stand united with the people in resisting and overcoming this trap," it said. - AFP
