Lighting a fuse: Lashio shaken by explosive extortion [Myanmar]

cross-posted from: lemmy.ca/post/8515730

cross-posted from: lemmy.ca/post/8515726

Armed groups collecting taxes in Myanmar’s Lashio is nothing new, but a mysterious outfit is upping the ante by bombing public places if its demands are not met and refusing to negotiate.

Before the coup, many businesses in Lashio were expected to pay taxes to the ethnic armed groups the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Shan State Progress Party.

Since then, locals say the Kachin Independence Army has also moved into the area, further squeezing businesses. Once close allies, the KIA and TNLA have found themselves at loggerheads due to overlapping territorial claims and competing tax drives.