25 killed in Myanmar clashes

Villagers say Army personnel fired indiscriminately; junta says fended off ambush

Twenty-five anti-junta fighters and civilians were killed during clashes with the military in central Myanmar, villagers said on Sunday, as locals increasingly take up arms against the regime. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, with 890 people killed in a junta crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group. In some areas civilians have formed “defence forces” to combat the State Administration Council, as the junta dubs itself, often using hunting rifles or makeshift weapons cobbled together from household items.