More Myanmar junta troops surrender as MNDAA seizes outposts near Laukkai

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) has captured three more regime outposts near Laukkai and taken as many as 100 soldiers prisoner, according to residents of the city near Myanmar’s border with China. The outposts, all located in the Htin Par Keng village tract west of Laukkai, fell on Sunday afternoon, local sources told Myanmar Now. “Friends who fled the area told me that some junta soldiers also surrendered,” said a resident of Laukkai who did not want to be identified. While the MNDAA has not released a statement regarding the outposts or the soldiers, videos circulating online show large numbers of junta troops in the custody of the ethnic Kokang armed group. Nearly 100 military personnel, including soldiers from Light Infantry Division 55 and members of a regime-backed militia, are believed to have been taken prisoner. Some of the soldiers in the video are seen receiving treatment for their injuries. The video also shows MNDAA troops taking control of an area badly damaged by the fighting as well as the signpost of the Laukkai Regional Operations Command. It was unclear, however, if the military command centre was also captured. Damage is seen from recent fighting in Laukkai (MNDAA) Laukkai—the regime-controlled administrative centre of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone—has been besieged by the MNDAA and its allies since mid-November, when an entire junta battalion surrendered to the group. Fighting for control of the city eased following talks hosted by China earlier this month, but resumed on December 18, when the MNDAA announced that it had seized control of the Yanlone Kyaing border gate and the Border Post (BP) 125 Border Trade Area near Laukkai. In response, the junta carried out airstrikes targeting MNDAA troops stationed in Htin Par Keng. On Monday, the group released a video showing the effects of the regime’s daily aerial bombardment, including dead civilians and damaged buildings. According to figures compiled by the MNDAA, a total of 55 civilians have been killed and more than 40 others wounded in the Kokang region since the launch of a major anti-junta offensive in northern Shan State in late October. The MNDAA currently controls almost all junta camps around Laukkai except for one located on a tactical hill northeast of the city near BP 122. It has also occupied Tong Chain, a ward in the southern part of the city, since the beginning of the month.

More Myanmar junta troops surrender as MNDAA seizes outposts near Laukkai

The capture of three more outposts over the weekend is part of the group’s ongoing effort to take control of the Kokang region’s main city

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