US embassy in Myanmar warns of troop movements, cautions its citizens

The US embassy in Myanmar has urged its citizens to “shelter-in-place”, citing reports of military movements in the commercial capital Yangon.

The embassy also said there was a “possibility of telecommunications interruptions overnight between 1:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m”.

"There are indications of military movements in Yangon and the possibility of telecommunications interruptions overnight between 1:00 a.m. and 9:00 am" on Monday morning local time, the US embassy tweeted on its official American Citizen Services account on Sunday night. 

According to Reuters, armoured vehicles were sighted in Yangon there for the first time since the February 1 military coup.

The possible interruptions would occur between 1830 - 0230 GMT. 

Meanwhile, new army rulers grappled to contain a strike by government workers on Sunday, crippling their ability to run the country.

Also read | Myanmar army faces crippling mass strike on ninth day of protests

Security forces opened fire to disperse protesters at a power plant and armoured vehicles rolled into major cities.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets for a ninth day of anti-coup demonstrations. People protested across the nation after a fearful night as residents formed patrols and the army rolled back laws protecting freedoms.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in a November election that the army said was tainted with fraud - an accusation dismissed by the electoral commission.

Suu Kyi's detention is due to expire on Monday.

More than 384 people have been detained since the coup, the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said, in a wave of mostly nightly arrests.

(with inputs)