Displaced people start to return to Myanmar Kokang region as security improves: official

Displaced people have been returning to Kokang region's Laukkai, northeastern Shan state of Myanmar since early this week as security improved there following numerous armed clashes over the past week, an official report said Sunday.

"The town is said to have returned to normal as the army is making endeavors to secure the area," said the report of the Global New Light of Myanmar.

Cleaning-up work is being done by local military personnel together with local people, social organizations and departmental staff in a bid to improve the appearance of the town, the report said, adding that arrangements are being made for local matriculation students to sit for examination in nearby centers set for March 11.

The government claimed that stability could be restored in Laukkai as its forces combed the area with a total of 1,314 local people, who had taken refuge in Lashio, a big city in Shan state, having resettled in the Kokang capital since last weekend.

Heavy fighting first broke out on Feb. 9 between the government forces and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Kokang region and as the clashes escalated, the government declared a state of emergency and imposed martial law in Kokang region on Feb. 17.

During the series of fighting, the government side claimed earlier that 54 of its forces lost their lives with 105 others being wounded while about 72 of Kokang army, which the government terms as renegade group, died with seizure of some small weapons and ammunition.

The battlefield mainly covered areas of Laukkai, Koneyan and Yan Lone Kyaine of Kokang region.

Of tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting, some ran away to neighboring country crossing border , while some to Lashio and Mandalay in north of Myanmar. Endi