Attacks on Myanmar telecom towers show evolving tactics in conflict

Around 700,000 people in Myanmar are estimated to have lost internet access after attacks on telecommunication equipment run by Mytel, the partly army-controlled company said amid reports that dozens of its towers were damaged.

The explosions have occurred since the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration formed to resist the army’s Feb. 1 coup, declared last week a “people’s defensive war” against the junta.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since Aung San Suu Kyi’s government was toppled, sparking nationwide anger, strikes, protests, and the emergence of anti-junta militia.