Myanmar Commander-In-Chief Office / AFP
Open warfare broke out Tuesday between troops loyal to Myanmar’s junta and members of the People’s Defense Force (PDF) militia in the country’s second largest city of Mandalay, leaving at least three people dead and one injured and prompting calls from foreign embassies for a cessation of violence.
Fighting erupted early in the morning as junta troops raided a PDF office in the city’s Chanmya Tharzi township, according to Mandalay PDF combat team leader Bo Zeegwat, who said militia members were forced to retreat in the face of the military’s superior firepower. The clashes marked the first in the cosmopolitan city of more than 1.7 million people since the military took over the government in a February coup, prompting widespread protests.