Mandalay: An attack by an insurgent group killed at least 19 people on Saturday in a town in north-eastern Myanmar, on the country's border with China, officials said.

The attack began early Saturday and lasted about three hours, beginning on the outskirts of the town of Muse in Shan State then moving into its outskirts, said Sai Kyaw Thein, a member of Parliament from Muse.

Among the dead were 15 civilians, three soldiers and a police officer, he said.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack. The group, one of several in Myanmar's frontier areas that have long battled government forces, said in a statement that it was retaliating for a push by Myanmar's military against another ethnic insurgent group, the Kachin Independence Army.

A spokesman for the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, known for its campaigns against drug production and distribution, said it had targeted soldiers and militia members who ran a casino.