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Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar, and other senior officials in the ruling party have been detained, according to reports.
The early morning raid took place amid increasing tensions between the civilian government and the military over the results of the election in November.
Earlier this week the army said a coup could not be ruled out if complaints of widespread voting fraud in last November’s election were ignored.
Myanmar’s election commission went on to reject allegations that fraud played a significant role in delivering a landslide victory to Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won only 33 seats.
NLD spokesperson Myo Nyunt told Reuters that Aung San Suu Kyi, the president Win Myint and other leaders had been “taken” in the early hours of the morning.
“I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law,” he added, saying that he also expected to be detained.
Another NLD official, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said one of those detained was Han Thar Myint, a member of the party’s central executive committee.
Myanmar state television said on Facebook that it was unable to broadcast “due to communication problems”, while phone lines to the capital were not working.
The military ran Myanmar for nearly 50 years following a coup in 1962, before beginning a transition to democracy with a general election in 2010.
Ms Suu Kyi was detained under house arrest for much of the period between 1989 and 2010 and won the Nobel Peace Price in 1991 for her “non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.”
Her international standing was damaged after her country’s brutal crackdown on the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state, but she remains hugely popular at home.
The NLD won a landslide in last November’s election, hammering a pro-military party.
Myanmar’s military had said on Saturday it would protect and abide by the constitution and act according to law after comments earlier in the week had raised fears of a coup.
Myanmar’s election commission has rejected the military’s allegations of vote fraud, saying there were no errors big enough to affect the credibility of the vote.
The constitution reserves 25% of seats in parliament for the military and control of three key ministries in Suu Kyi’s administration.
In December she defended her country against a charge of genocide at the International Court of Justice, saying the situation there is “complex”.
Additional reporting by agencies
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