At least three killed as Myanmar villagers battle junta forces

YANGON: A clash between Myanmar soldiers and villagers wielding homemade guns left at least three civilians dead in the south of the coup-stricken country Saturday, state media said, although one witness put the death toll at 12.

Myanmar has been in chaos and its economy paralysed since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government in February and unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent.

Fighting broke out in Kyon Pyaw in the southern Ayeyarwady region when villagers retaliated after more than 100 soldiers came to arrest members of a local defence force, a villager told AFP. The resident, who did not want to be named, told AFP that twelve civilians -- including a four-year-old child -- had been killed.