Insurgents kidnap NLD candidates in Rakhine

Insurgents from western Myanmar yesterday claimed responsibility for the kidnapping last week of three ruling party candidates in conflict-torn Rakhine state, and demanded the release of detained student protesters in return for letting them go. 

The ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) said the three – two women and a man – were abducted on Wednesday while campaigning in Rakhine before a Nov 8 election.

The western region, where most parliamentary seats are held by Rakhine nationalist opponents of Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has been beset by an insurgency that has intensified this year.

The Arakan Army (AA), the rebel group battling government troops there, said in a statement posted online the three candidates would be "detained and investigated as required by circumstances till a certain time".

It accused the NLD of complicity with military "atrocities" against civilians but said it was willing to free the group in return for the release of students arrested while protesting the war and other "innocent people" detained by authorities.

The country's election committee said on Saturday more than half the polling stations initially planned in Rakhine will no longer operate, as parts of the state are too unstable for voting.