A Burmese civilian army overpowered hundreds of state soldiers to capture a military outpost on a vital route into China.

Troops from the Kachin Independence Army - one of the dozens of nationwide resistance cells to the junta - seized the base in Lwegel, Momauk Township, on Monday morning April 1.

The base controls a road linking Bhamo town in northeastern Kachin State with China. It is one of only five lucrative border trade towns with the neighbouring country.

Officials said the town had been controlled by the military for more than 60 years and had been used as a base to shell nearby towns controlled by resistance groups.

Resistance fights said that more than 60 military outposts have been captured across the country in the last 22 days, with the army feeling the pressure from a protracted civil war.

Myanmar has fallen into civil war following the removal of democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, with a murderous military coup in 2021.

Soldiers responded with barbaric force on protesting civilians leading to widespread condemnation and financial sanctions. Rebel groups and civilian militias around the country have since been locked in a series of ongoing clashes with the ruling military.

Last month, Aung San Suu Kyi's home - where she famously met Barack Obama - was put up for auction but failed to find a buyer.