Myanmar junta chief warns of 'counterattacks' in opponent-held areas

Myanmar junta chief warns civilians in territory captured by ethnic groups to prepare for military counterattacks.

Myanmar's embattled junta chief has warned civilians in territory recently captured by ethnic minority armed groups to prepare for military counterattacks, state media reported on Wednesday.

The military has lost swaths of territory near the border with China in northern Shan state to an alliance of armed ethnic minority groups and "People's Defence Forces" battling to overturn its 2021 coup.

The groups have seized a regional military command and taken control of lucrative border trade crossings, prompting rare public criticism by military supporters of the junta's top leadership.

Junta troops "will... launch counterattacks", junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said on Tuesday in the Shan state capital Taunggyi, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar.

He accused the alliance of using "administrative buildings and innocent civilians as human shields", according to the newspaper.

"Therefore, the people residing in towns and villages where the terrorists unlawfully occupied should be aware of security so as not to face exploitation."

The junta is battling widespread armed opposition and its soldiers are accused of bloody rampages and using air and artillery strikes to punish civilian communities.