47 Myanmar troops killed in fighting

FE Team | Published: February 14, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

YANGON, Feb 13 (AFP): Heavy fighting between Myanmar's army and rebels has killed 47 soldiers, state media said Friday, sending a flood of people across the border with China and overshadowing hopes for a national ceasefire as a crucial election looms.
Myanmar has informed Beijing about the clashes, which have raged since February 9, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar, marking a dramatic resurgence of conflict with largely ethnic Chinese rebels in the Kokang region in Shan State.
The flaring of a conflict which had been largely dormant for six years, is an ominous sign for the government as it attempts to forge a comprehensive ceasefire deal with the country's myriad ethnic armed groups-a deal it says is essential to embed reforms and drive development.
Kokang fighters with "heavy weapons including anti-aircraft machine guns" attempted to capture the region's capital Laukkai, just a few miles from the Chinese border, but were repelled by the army, state media said.
"So far, the fighting has left government forces with 47 dead, 73 wounded and five vehicles destroyed," said the English language report.
It is unclear what provoked the latest round of violence, which was announced as the nation celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of independence hero Aung San-the father of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi-who is lauded for backing political autonomy for ethnic areas.
Another report adds:  Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi addressed a crowd of thousands Friday in the biggest celebrations honouring her independence hero father in memory, underscoring her legacy months before leading the opposition to momentous elections.
In scenes reminiscent of her triumphant election campaign three years ago, Suu Kyi addressed a huge crowd in her father's central Myanmar birthplace, with many supporters waving her party flag or portraits of Aung San as an earnest young revolutionary in a military cap.
"If we want to inherit from my father, we have to build a real democratic nation," said an emotional Suu Kyi, adding that his "sincerity" had ensured his legacy endured.
Known affectionately as "Bogyoke", or General, Aung San is adored in Myanmar and credited with unshackling the country from colonial rule and embracing its ethnic minorities in a vision of unity that unravelled catastrophically in the military-dominated decades that followed his assassination.
Suu Kyi was just two at the time of his death in 1947.