MYANMAR DECLARES MARTIAL LAW IN TROUBLED KOKANG REGION

Myanmar President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in the Kokang region in the east and imposed a three-month period of martial law there in an announcement on state television on Tuesday night.

Fighting broke out on Feb. 9 between the Myanmar army and an ethnic Kokang force called the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

At least 47 Myanmar soldiers and 26 MNDAA fighters have been killed since then, the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported, and thousands of civilians have fled, either to other areas in Myanmar or over the border into China.

On Tuesday, unknown attackers shot and wounded two people in a convoy of eight vehicles marked with the emblem of the Myanmar Red Cross Society that was attempting to transport civilians displaced by fighting in Laukkai, on the Chinese border, a witness said.

• "We haven’t had such an attack before," said Red Cross spokeswoman Shwe Cin Myint. "This would be the very first."
• A government soldier blamed the attack on the MNDAA.

Source: Reuters...More...