After weeks of preparation, MNDAA says it has entered Laukkai

Anti-regime forces in northern Shan State say they have begun their final push for control of Laukkai, the administrative centre of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone on the China-Myanmar border. Li Kyar Win, the spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), told Myanmar Now on Friday that its troops have already entered the outskirts of the town. “We have started penetrating Tong Chain,” he said, referring to an area southeast of the centre of Laukkai. Laukkai at night (Fully Light) The MNDAA, a member of the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed groups that has seized control of much of Myanmar’s northeastern border region over the past month, has been preparing for an assault on Laukkai since the middle of November. Over the past two weeks, it has encircled the town, capturing a number of junta outposts as the military has struggled to retain a foothold in the Kokang region. If successful, the MNDAA’s bid to take over Laukkai would deprive the regime of yet another major urban centre along the border with China, after losing Chin Shwe Haw, another border town, soon after the start of Operation 1027, the offensive launched by the Brotherhood Alliance on October 27. Some residents of the town started fleeing even before fighting began, but it has only been in recent days that tens of thousands have been allowed to leave after weeks of blockades. According to the junta-appointed Kokang administrative body, up to 35,000 people are currently sheltering in camps under its control, while the United Wa State Army, a powerful ethnic armed group that controls territory adjacent to the Kokang region, said that it has received around 40,000. MNDAA troops near Laukkai (The Kokang) Last Friday, the Chinese embassy in Yangon also urged its citizens to leave Laukkai as soon as possible. While the town is now largely deserted, local sources say that hundreds or even thousands of civilians may still be trapped inside. For this reason, the MNDAA has focussed its firepower on regime targets around the town rather than in denser areas, according to Li Kyar Win. On Monday, exactly one month after the start of Operation 1027, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged the military’s losses in northern Shan State, but blamed them on the anti-regime groups’ use of “excessive force,” accusing them of firing 120 107-mm rockets and using drones to drop more than 25,000 bombs. In comments that were broadcast on junta-controlled state television, he also said that “foreign experts” were assisting the alliance in its campaign, without providing any evidence or further details. In a bid to consolidate its grip on the town, the regime replaced its civilian administrator, former lawmaker Myint Swe, with a brigadier general, Tun Tun Myint, on November 15. In addition to being the most important town in the Kokang region, Laukkai is also host to a Regional Operation Command (ROC) centre operated by the regime. However, on November 12, an entire battalion under ROC Laukkai surrendered en masse to the MNDAA, and on Tuesday, another battalion followed suit. While residents of Laukkai say the military presence in Laukkai hasn't been very visible in recent weeks, it is believed that there are at least several hundred junta troops deployed in the town, many of them taking up position inside buildings. Besides the seven battalions under the command of ROC Laukkai, there are also pro-junta Kokang militias and border guard forces inside the town, meaning that intense fighting is likely to occur once anti-regime forces fully breach its outer defences.

After weeks of preparation, MNDAA says it has entered Laukkai

The group has been planning to make a full-scale bid for control of the key Kokang border town since mid-November

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