Myanmar junta bombs opposition-held town hours after talks offer

YANGON: Myanmar´s junta carried out fresh air strikes on an opposition-held town on Friday, hours after issuing an unprecedented invitation to its enemies for talks on the country´s civil war.

Thursday´s surprise call for discussions was likely a sop to main ally China and a nudge towards controversial fresh elections, analysts said, and two prominent armed groups swiftly dismissed it.

The offer came with the junta reeling from battlefield reverses to ethnic minority armed groups and pro-democracy “People´s Defence Forces” that rose up to oppose the military´s seizure of power in 2021.

The groups have seized several lucrative border crossings and last month took Lashio, a city of 150,000 people -- the biggest urban centre to fall to rebels since 1962.

The call was “the first time that the regime has expressed a willingness to have a dialogue with the post-coup resistance forces”, said Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has long spoken of “annihilating” the groups, he pointed out.

Hours after the offer, military jets bombed Lashio, in northern Shan state, now in the hands of fighters from the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). “I heard two explosions,” a resident told AFP, asking for anonymity for security reasons.

“I heard five people were killed and a lot of people were wounded.”

One Yangon-based diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the junta´s offer: “So far I haven´t seen the inclination towards serious reconciliation.”