YANGON: Myanmar’s junta has sentenced to death three high-ranking officers who oversaw the surrender of a strategic town on the Chinese border to ethnic minority fighters last month, military sources said.

Hundreds of troops put down their weapons and handed over the town of Laukkai in Shan state to the so-called Three Brotherhood Alliance after months of fighting that saw the military lose swathes of territory.

The surrender was one of the biggest single losses for the military in decades, and sparked further criticism of the junta leadership by its supporters. After the surrender, the officers and their troops were allowed to leave the area by the alliance.

“Three brigadier generals including the commander of Laukkai town were given the death sentence,” a military source told AFP on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to the media. Another military source confirmed the sentencing.

Three other brigadier generals were sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in the surrender at Laukkai, the two sources said. Laukkai is the largest town seized by the Three Brotherhood Alliance — made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2024