Myanmar cell towers attacked

Protesters have destroyed around a dozen military-owned communications towers in Myanmar, witnesses and reports said yesterday, after the country's self-proclaimed shadow government issued a call for a "defensive war" against the junta.

The country has been in chaos since the military seized power in February, sparking mass pro-democracy rallies followed by a deadly crackdown and renewed fighting with ethnic rebel militias in border areas.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed and nearly 8,000 arrested, according to local observers.

Protesters said they targeted 11 mobile phone masts belonging to the military-owned Mytel, one of the country's four main cell networks, in the town of Budalin in the central Sagaing region.

While attacks on military-owned infrastructure and businesses have been seen before, Tuesday's spate of blasts comes after a call to arms from the so-called National Unity Government (NUG), which is made up of dissident lawmakers in hiding or exile, many of them from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party.

NUG acting president Duwa Lashi La on Tuesday urged citizens to target military assets in their areas.

The military authorities -- officially known as the State Administration Council (SAC) -- dismiss the NUG and its affiliates as "terrorists" seeking to bring the country to ruin.