Reuters
The shadow government of ousted former lawmakers in Myanmar have formed an armed militia aimed at opposing the military junta that seized control of the country in a coup on Feb. 1 and killed more than 760 people who protested against the army takeover, organizers said Wednesday.
The National Unity Government (NUG) said the creation of the “People’s Defense Force” (PDF) was exercising the authority given to it with the landslide victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) in November elections.
The three-week-old NUG said the force is necessary to prevent killings and other violent acts against the people by the junta, which calls itself the State Administration Council (SAC).