Fighting reported to be continuing in northern Myanmar despite China saying it arranged a cease-fire

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Reports from Myanmar say there is continuing fighting in the northeastof the country between the military government and an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups. That is even though China announced that the two sides had reached agreement on a cease-fire at meetings it had brokered. Clashes have been raging in the northern part of Myanmar’s Shan state since Oct. 27, when the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, branding themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance, launched a coordinated offensive. Online news services say the army carried out airstrikes and fired heavy weapons Friday morning in Muse, a major city that is a border crossing point with China.