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Feedback 0 / 5</s>BEIJING — China is caring for about 3,000 refugees who have entered its territory to escape fighting in Myanmar between the government and ethnic rebels, including some who have been injured, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

China has offered "proper settlement" to those seeking shelter and hospital beds for those who need them, ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a daily briefing.

The state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported eight dead in the attacks on military outposts, police stations and a trade in Muse and Kutkai Townships. Killed were one soldier, three policemen, a local militiaman and three civilians.

The report blamed the Kachin Independence Army, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army for the attacks. Unlike other ethnic rebel groups, none of those have active ceasefire agreements with the government.

Statements from some of the groups acknowledged launching the attacks. They said they were in response to earlier government offensives.

The Kachin, based mainly in the northern state of the same name, have been in a mostly low-level state of war with the government since 2011. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army is a guerrilla force comprising members of the ethnic Chinese Kokang minority.

The area has been insecure for decades, largely because the remoteness of Kachin and northern Shan state make them difficult to control, while their location along the border with China make them lucrative for trade, both legal and illegal.</s>Myanmar’s eight-month-old government faced a fresh crisis on Monday, after four ethnic armed groups attacked security forces in the north of the country, dealing a major blow to leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s goal of reaching peace with ethnic minorities.

Eight people were killed and 29 wounded when a coalition of northern rebels attacked military and police outposts and a business centre near a key trading hub on the Myanmar (formerly Burma) border with China on Sunday, the government said.

China put its army on high alert and said it was providing shelter for some people who fled across the frontier to escape fighting in the towns of Muse and Kutkai, in Myanmar’s north-eastern Shan state. Beijing called on the parties involved to exercise calmness and restraint.

The sudden escalation of fighting comes as the government grapples with a conflict in northwestern Rakhine that has sent hundreds of Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh , posing a new challenge to Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, who swept to power last year on promises of national reconciliation.

In an important realignment of ethnic armed forces, one of Myanmar’s most powerful militias, the Kachin Independence Army, joined three smaller groups that have been in a stand-off with the Myanmar military since clashes on the border last year.

The fighting last year pitted the army against the predominantly ethnic Chinese Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and its allies, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army.

“The Burma armed forces have been assaulting to destroy all political and military struggles of the ethnic peoples because they have no will to solve Myanmar’s political problem by politically peaceful negotiation methods,” the four groups said in a statement.

The fighting threatened to derail whatever progress has been made by Suu Kyi since she organised a major peace conference with most ethnic armed groups in August.

“We will increase the operations to secure these areas and protect the civilians,” said Ministry of Defence spokesman Maj Gen Aung Ye Win. He did not comment on questions regarding the military’s next steps.

Thousands of people have been displaced by decades of fighting between the military and ethnic armed groups in Shan state, which is home to several large groups operating close to the borders with China and Thailand.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said a stray bullet from the fighting had wounded a Chinese resident and China has lodged a protest.

China was infuriated last year when five Chinese people were killed as the fighting spilled over into Chinese territory.

“The Chinese army is on high alert and will take the necessary measures to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and safety, as well as protect the lives and property of Chinese citizens living along the border,” a defence ministry statement said.</s>YANGON: Eight people were killed Sunday when fighting broke out in a northern Myanmar town on the border with China, a region long plagued by ethnic rebel insurgencies.

The clashes are another blow to civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s hopes of forging a nationwide peace agreement after years of war in Myanmar’s many ethnic minority border regions.

Locals in the town of Muse, a hotbed of smuggling, reported that fighting began in the early morning.

“People from (the) border checkpoint are now fleeing to Muse because of heavy fighting,” Aye Aye, a resident of the town, told AFP.

In a statement later on Sunday, Suu Kyi’s office said eight people were killed in the fighting — one soldier, three police officers, one pro-government militia fighter and three civilians.

A hospital worker in Muse told AFP two civilians died after arrival from bullet wounds.

Fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin state, which reignited in 2011 after the collapse of a 17-year ceasefire, has displaced around 100,000 people and spilled over into parts of neighbouring Shan state.

Muse lies in the north of Shan, not far from Kachin, and is separated from China by a river.

Two rebel representatives confirmed their troops were involved in the clashes.

“We are fighting together with our alliance of ethnic armed groups,” Khine Thu Kha, from the Arakan Army, told AFP.

The rebels said the groups involved included the powerful KIA, the Arakan Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.

The latter three have not been invited to the current or last round of peace talks.

One of Suu Kyi’s priorities is a peace deal with the patchwork of armed minorities fighting the state.

But continuing fighting in Kachin and Shan states overshadowed the peace talks and it is expected to take years to end the complex conflicts.

In September renewed clashes broke out in southern Karen state between the military and rebels. The northern half of the western state of Rakhine is currently under a military lockdown after a string of deadly attacks against border posts last month.

More than 30,000 people have been displaced and at least 70 people killed in the latest fighting in Rakhine.

Myanmar’s military has a long history of rights abuses that has fostered a deep mistrust among ethnic minorities of the central government.

Suu Kyi also has limited control over the army which retains 25 percent of parliamentary seats as well as key defence and security positions in government.
At least 8 people are killed and more than a dozen others are injured following an attack on Tatmadaw checkpoints, police outposts and the 105th Mile Trade Center by several insurgent groups in Muse, Shan State. The State Counselor's office issues a statement claiming that the Kachin Independence Army, Ta'ang National Liberation Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army were involved in the attack.