Ethnic armed groups in Myanmar are claiming to have captured two strategically important towns in the northeast. Lashio houses the major regional military headquarters and Mogok is the center of the country’s lucrative gem-mining industry. Their fall would be the biggest in a series of setbacks suffered by Myanmar’s military government this year. The ruling military council denies its Lashio base has been taken over. Video posted on social media appeared to show residents of Mogok cheering the arrival of ethnic guerrilla soldiers. The two cities have been the targets of an offensive by the MNDAA, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the TNLA, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, since late June.
