260 hotel workers abducted in Myanmar

Nay Pyi Taw, March 14 (IANS): A rebel group attacked a hotel in Myanmar and abducted 260 of its workers to make them work for the group, local media reported on Tuesday. According to The Global New Light of Myanmar daily, the workers - 150 women and 110 men - were taken to the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army’s headquarters in the Kokang region in Shan state, for guerrilla training, said military sources, Efe news reported. The 45 rebels, who attacked the hotel in Kokang’s capital Laukkaing on March 6, also looted money and several vehicles and killed one staff member, who refused to cooperate. Founded in 1989, the 2,000-member rebel group that has been fighting for Kokang’s independence, has clashed with the Myanmar army on 48 occasions this year, killing dozens of officials between March 6 and 12, the sources added. Clashes in Shan and Kachin, near the Chinese border, killed around 150 people, including rebels, soldiers and civilians, between November and December 2016.