19 dead in Myanmar army-rebels fighting

MYITKYINA, Myanmar: At least 19 people were killed Saturday in northern Myanmar when ethnic rebels attacked security force posts and a casino in an area bordering China, the most deadly flare-up in recent years that undercuts government efforts to win peace in the troubled country.

Rights defenders say clashes in the north have ramped up since January as the international community focuses on the Rohingya crisis in the west of the country.

The military stands accused of carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the stateless minority in Rakhine.

The Ta´ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, one of several insurgent groups fighting for more autonomy in the north, said it launched the operation on Saturday, while government and military sources confirmed the death toll.

Images and video from the skirmishes shared on social media showed armed men fanning out across a residential street while a rebel soldier took cover behind a car. The sound of automatic gunfire filled the air as ambulances picked up the wounded.

"Nineteen (people) were killed in fighting," an official with Myanmar´s military told AFP, adding that two dozen had been wounded.

Government spokesman Zaw Htay said in a Facebook post that one police officer and three state-backed militia members had been killed while 15 of the dead were innocent civilians. He called the operation terrorism. "The attack to target innocent people is not asking for ethnic rights," he said. "It is just a destructive terrorist attack."

A statement posted on the page of Myanmar´s commander-in-chief said military columns were in pursuit of the "terrorist insurgents".

TNLA spokesman Major Mai Aik Kyaw told AFP that they attacked joint military and militia posts and a casino just outside the Shan State town of Muse and on a road to Lashio. "We fight because of heavy fighting in our region and the serious offensive in Kachin State," he said, referring to fresh confrontations in Myanmar´s northernmost state between the military and the TNLA-aligned Kachin Independence Army.