Anti-coup fighters seize police post, kill over dozen security forces in Myanmar

In the latest flare-up of violence since the Myanmar junta seized power in a coup on February 1, anti-coup fighters from armed ethnic groups claimed to have killed more than a dozen members of the security forces in an eastern town in the Southeast Asian country.

The armed fighters said that they seized a police station and killed at least 13 security personnel and captured four in the eastern town of Mobye on Sunday.

Some media reports put the death toll higher; saying that up to 15 members had been killed during the fierce fighting in the troubled region.

Videos circulating on social media showed bodies in the uniforms of the security forces, while other pictures showed four policemen with their hands behind their backs and blindfolded with surgical masks. A police vehicle was also shown in flames as dozens of fighters milled at the scene.

Mobye lies near territory held by some of the ethnic armed groups that have fought for greater autonomy for decades.

Separately, a gun battle erupted near the Chinese border early on Sunday. An alliance of four ethnic groups opposing the coup reportedly battled with security forces in Muse, one of the main border crossings to China.

On Saturday, an armed ethnic group launched an attack on a jade mining town on the other side of Myanmar, near India.

Myanmar's military forces have engaged in a gun battle with armed ethnic groups at a border town amid continued opposition to the junta's coup.

Ethnic armed groups, suppressed for decades by Myanmar's military leaders, have risen -- demanding greater autonomy since anti-coup protests swept the country.

Ethnic rebels in Myanmar 'seize army base' near Thai border

A major armed group in Myanmar says it has captured an outpost of the army near the country

The ethnic minority groups have been joined by new groups opposed to the coup.

Teachers strike against military rule

More than 125,000 school teachers - nearly a third of Myanmar’s total - have been suspended for joining the protests and strikes carried out daily against the military rule. 

An official with the teachers' federation said he had been told that charges raised against him would be dropped if he returned to work.

The junta seized power over alleged fraud in the general elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party in November.

The allegations of fraud have been dismissed by the former electoral commission, with dozens of its officials being locked up.

Also, in his first interview since the coup, Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing told Hong Kong-based Chinese language broadcaster Phoenix Television on May 20 that Suu Kyi was in good health and would appear in court in a few days. Excerpts of the interview were released on Saturday.

He said fresh elections would be held and there could be changes to the Constitutional Law, if "the people's will" was for it.

At least 815 people have been killed in the harsh clampdown by security forces.

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