Myanmar's army seizes power, detains Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar's military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in early morning raids.

A file photo of Aung San Suu Kyi

A file photo of Aung San Suu Kyi Source: AAP

Myanmar's military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in early morning raids.

The army said it had carried out the detentions in response to "election fraud", handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year, according to a statement on a military-owned television station.

A military spokesman did not answer phone calls seeking further comment.

Phone lines to the capital Naypyitaw and the main commercial centre of Yangon were not reachable, and state TV went off air hours before parliament had been due to sit for the first time  since the NLD's landslide election win in November, viewed as a referendum on Suu Kyi's fledgling democratic government.

Soldiers took up positions at city hall in Yangon and mobile  internet data and phone services in the NLD stronghold were disrupted, residents said. Internet connectivity also had fallen dramatically, monitoring service NetBlocks said. 


Suu Kyi, Myanmar President Win Myint and other NLD leaders had been "taken" in the early hours of the morning, NLD spokesman Myo Nyunt told Reuters by phone.


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By Wires
Presented by Yang J. Joo
Source: Reuters


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