This content was originally published by Radio Free Asia, and it is now licensed for reprint.
A military spokesman confirmed on Monday that a Myanmar rebel group had taken control of top army officers after seizing their local office, a magnificent turnaround for the troubled junta that seized power in a 2021 coup.
The soldiers included Maj. Gen. Soe Tint, the captain of the regime’s northeast regional military office, according to the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA.
Since the army overthrew an elected government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, he is the highest ranking military dictatorship agent to get apprehended by militants.
The MNDAA said it , captured , the office in the Shan state city of Lashio next year. It is the first headquarters of this type that insurgents have taken over in a campaign to overthrow military rule.
” We had contact with the top officials until 6: 30 in the evening on Aug. 3, but we’ve been out of touch until today”, junta director Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said in Monday’s speech.
” According to unconfirmed reports, some top officials have been arrested by criminal militants”, he said.
Although the junta-aligned media reported that Brigadier General Thant Htin Soe, the captain of the Kyaukme-based Operation and Command Headquarters, and Brigadier General Myo Min Htwe, the commander of the organization’s Kyaukme-based base, were also in MNDAA prison, the coup spokesperson did not specify how many officials had been taken or who held any ranks.
Li Kyar Win, a spokesperson for MNDAA, tried to contact Radio Free Asia to confirm the reports, but he did n’t respond right away.
Political scientist Than Soe Naing told RFA that the regional headquarters ‘ closure is likely to cause the region to experience more junta setbacks.
” It was the largest military order in Shan State”, he said.  ,
Junta captain appears on television.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged the loss of soldiers and command posts on Monday, but he did not directly address the Lashio military offices.
In a statement that was broadcast on state advertising and other coup broadcast shops, he declared,” Work will be made to restore peace and stability throughout the region, including north Shan position.
” Members of Myanmar’s Tatmadaw, police forces, people’s militias, and patriotic citizens will be honored as the country’s leading heroes for their sacrifices in restoring peace and stability” . ,
Since the coup d ‘état of February 2021, Min Aung Hlaing has been in charge of the military dictatorship as president of the State Administration Council, which is the junta’s official title.
Since then, Myanmar has experienced a rout. Pro-democracy activists have joined ethnic minority militants who have been fighting the military for decades in a number of areas of the nation, especially since the MNDAA and other organizations launched offensives late last month.
More than 3, 000 soldiers had just been mobilized to protect Lashio, many of whom had fled cities and towns that had just been retreated from by resistance forces.  ,
However, in less than a month, the MNDAA and its supporters were able to acquire the northern control.
Myanmar has 14 such local military control office.
More than 470 injured dictatorship soldiers and their families were evacuated from the office ‘ hospital on Thursday, according to the MNDAA on Saturday.
At least nine citizens have been killed in the battle, according to a statement from either side, and hundreds of Lashio occupants have fled the city’s damaged area, where access to electricity, telephone, and internet communications has been suspended for more than a month.
Despite the diminishing gunshot, a Lashio native claimed on Monday that the MNDAA was prohibiting people from returning to their homes.
” This morning in Lashio, we did not hear any fighting.” The stuck people are allowed to keep around, but no one is allowed to go back house permanently”, the resident said. ” The injury, dirt and the lifeless body are being cleared”.
