Myanmar junta chief vows to keep up with crackdown

NAYPYIDAW: Flanked by tanks and missile launchers, Myanmar's junta chief vowed not to let up in a crackdown on opponents and insisted the military would hold elections - weeks after admitting it did not control enough territory to allow a vote.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military removed Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government over two years ago after making unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.

The putsch sparked renewed fighting with ethnic rebels and produced dozens of anti-junta People's Defence Forces PDFs with swathes of the country now ravaged by fighting and the economy in tatters.

The military will take decisive action against its opponents and ethnic rebels who support it, Min Aung Hlaing told an audience of about 8,000 service members at the annual Armed Forces Day parade in the military-built capital Naypyidaw.

The terror acts of NUG and its lackey so-called PDFs need to be tackled for good and all, he said, referring to the National Unity Government, a body dominated by ousted lawmakers working to reverse the coup.

He said that the junta would hold free and fair elections upon the completion of the state of emergency.