Dozens of rebels battled the Myanmar military from dawn to dusk on Monday to overrun two camps abutting India's Mizoram state, as part of a widening offensive against the junta-led administration, Chin National Front (CNF) Vice Chairman Sui Khar said. Following the battle, 43 Myanmar soldiers surrendered to Indian police and are currently sheltering in Mizoram, local police official Lalmalsawma Hnamte said. "Whether they will be pushed back or not, we are waiting for further instructions from the central government," he told Reuters. Chin rebels will now look to consolidate their control along the India-Myanmar border, where the Myanmar military has two more camps, Sui Khar said. A Rathedaung resident told Reuters on Tuesday the area came under artillery fire overnight and that military soldiers had entered the town.

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Persons: Sui Khar, Kyaw Naing, Lalmalsawma Hnamte, Chin, Nobel, Aung, Suu Kyi, Krishn Kaushik, Kanupriya Kapoor, Devjyot, Michael Perry, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, Chin, Myanmar's, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Reuters, Human Rights Organization, Myanmar, Arakan Army, Artillery, Thomson Locations: Myanmar, India, Farkawn, Mizoram, Myanmar's Shan, Kayah, Rakhine, Chin, Rakhine's, Myanmar's Chin, India's Mizoram, China, Shan State, Sittwe, Rathedaung, Minbya, Suu, MIZORAM, DELHI