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Myanmar rebel leader Bo Nagar surrenders to junta amid resistance infighting

The Burma National Revolutionary Army leader’s surrender is a dramatic reminder of fractures within the armed resistance movement

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People inspect their damaged homes in Tabayin, Sagaing region, after Myanmar’s military air strikes on December 6, 2025. Photo: AFP
Associated Press
A prominent leader of an independent resistance group in Myanmar that had come under attack by rivals who are loyal to the mainstream opposition force has surrendered to the country’s military authorities, state media reported on Thursday.

The surrender of Bo Nagar, a leader of the Burma National Revolutionary Army (BNRA), in the upper-central region of Sagaing was a dramatic reminder of fractures within the armed resistance movement, which has led to sporadic clashes over control of territory and administrative disputes.

Sagaing has been a stronghold of armed resistance since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of the military rule took up arms, and large parts of the country are now enmeshed in civil war.
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Thursday’s report in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper said Bo Nagar, also known as Naing Lin, and family members contacted the military’s camp in Sagaing Region’s Pale township on Wednesday afternoon to “return to the legal fold”.

Soldiers pose in front of the captured police station in Kyaukme, a town that the resistance forces had controlled for more than a year, in the northern part of Shan state. Photo: Myanmar Military via AP
Soldiers pose in front of the captured police station in Kyaukme, a town that the resistance forces had controlled for more than a year, in the northern part of Shan state. Photo: Myanmar Military via AP

State media showed photos of Bo Nagar along with several guns he had surrendered.

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Multiple and detailed reports in independent Myanmar media said on Wednesday that Bo Nagar and several of his family members were airlifted by army helicopters from his stronghold in central Sagaing.

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