Children among five killed in junta shelling, bombing of TNLA-held towns

Regime forces hit two towns with deadly artillery and air strikes in recent days as they fought to retake territory from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State and Mandalay Region. The military has been targeting the TNLA-controlled towns of Kyaukme, northern Shan State and Mogok—a ruby-mining hub some 40 miles to the northwest in Mandalay Region—since retaking the town of Nawnghkio, northern Shan State from the same ethnic armed group in mid-July. At least five bombs exploded in Mogok’s Min Ta Dar, Ah Shey Ywar and Shwe Bon Thar wards on Tuesday between 9:40 and 10:40am, killing several civilians, according to local sources. “Four people died in the airstrike this morning. Of the nine who were injured, four are in critical condition,” said a source in town connected to the TNLA. Locals confirmed that at least four women and five men had been injured, some seriously. “Some were taken away in ambulances,” a Mogok resident said of the injured, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s hard to say exactly how bad it is. Access to the areas that were bombed has been restricted.” Local residents said the targeted neighbourhoods of Min Ta Dar and Shwe Bon Thar are home to communities of minority ethnicity, especially Palaung—another name for the Ta’ang people—and Lisu. Among the people killed in the air raid was a man in his 30s who had been working at a flour mill in Min Ta Dar ward, one of his neighbours said. Details about the other victims remain unverified. Another Mogok resident said Tuesday’s airstrike was the worst to have hit the town since the TNLA captured it in 2024. Three days before the Tuesday attack, junta aircraft had also bombed the Golden Butterfly Hotel in Mogok on Friday, killing a man and injuring three others, residents reported. Residents said the victim was a man in his 40s who worked at the hotel. “We heard the aircraft engine first, followed shortly by an explosion. When we looked, we saw the Golden Butterfly Hotel had been bombed,” a resident of Mogok said. “A middle-aged man employed there was killed.” The upper section of the dining hall in the well-known hotel was almost completely destroyed. While the Myanmar military typically issues statements about its victories after taking back towns from anti-junta armed groups, it normally remains silent about other clashes. However, pro-junta propagandists posted claims on social media that the TNLA had been using the hotel as a headquarters. The TNLA has held control of Mogok since capturing it in July of last year as part of the sweeping offensive operation against the Myanmar military dubbed “Operation 1027.” The military has ramped up air and artillery strikes on the town in recent weeks, with at least five air raids between June and July resulting in ten fatalities—including those that occurred on Tuesday as well as two other children and a woman—and injuries to more than 30 civilians. Aftermath of an explosion caused by a junta artillery shell at a home in Nawng Pein village in northern Shan State’s Kyaukme Township (Photo: Supplied) Shelling Kyaukme Since recapturing the strategically vital town of Nawnghkio, northern Shan State in mid-July, junta forces have also been carrying out relentless artillery attacks on neighbouring Kyaukme Township, according to locals. The shelling has been ongoing since July 19, with the most recent attack targeting the villages of Nawng Pein and Pin Tein last Friday. In addition to causing civilian casualties, it has forced people already displaced by previous air and artillery attacks in the township to move again, according to local news sources. Residents of Kyaukme Township said that the death toll in the villages, located around 16 miles northeast of Nawnghkio, has now risen to at least three. “Today’s artillery fire hit the junction on Nawng Pein road and also struck a house in Pin Tein village. They’ve been firing almost every day,” a villager from Nawng Pein said on Friday. On July 20, a shell explosion in Nawng Pyit village killed Nan Shwe Sin Lin, 9, and Ma Khaing, 35, both originally from Nawnghkio’s Thapyay Yey, while they were sheltering in Nawng Pyit. Following this incident, more than 100 residents from the village fled to Nawng Pein village. A few days later, five shell explosions near Pin Tee and Pan Pawng villages in Kyaukme Township killed one man and injured a woman on July 25 around noon. “The man was critically injured and died en route to Lashio Hospital,” a villager from Nawng Pein said. According to residents, over 200 people from Pin Paw and Pin Tee villages, fled to Nawng Pein village to escape the shelling. More than 10,000 displaced people from Nawnghkio and Kyaukme townships have accepted shelter from local residents in eleven locations in Nawng Pein village, including schools and monasteries. The TNLA and its allied forces kept control over villages in Nawnghkio Township, as well as the section of the Goke Twin road between Kyaukme and Nawnghkio, even after the military recaptured the town. Locals said civilians were injured as the junta forces fired on areas where they suspected the TNLA had taken up positions using heavy artillery. “With displaced people taking shelter in the village, we’re afraid there could be more damage,” a Nawng Pein resident said on Friday. “A house was hit today, and we don’t know what might happen in the days ahead.” Members of the ethnic organisation Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), based in Wan Hai, maintain an active presence in these villages, and residents said a large contingent of SSPP/SSA fighters arrived outside the village on July 26. Following the junta’s recapture of Nawnghkio, displaced people from certain wards were allowed to return home, while those from villages such as Bant Bway and Ohn Ma Thee in Nawnghkio Township have not yet received permission to return, residents said. Nawnghkio, Kyaukme, and Hsipaw are situated along a vital route for border trade between Myanmar and China. Following the recapture of Nawnghkio, the military launched airstrikes on nearby Kyaukme and Hsipaw and sent ground forces to advance on both towns, prompting around half the remaining residents in both towns to flee. Representatives of the TNLA are slated to resume ceasefire negotiations with Myanmar military officials in Kunming, China this August after previous rounds of peace talks failed. The junta previously demanded that the TNLA return control of five towns to the military—Nawnghkio, Kyaukme, Hsipaw, Mogok, and Mongmit—but the TNLA has refused.

Children among five killed in junta shelling, bombing of TNLA-held towns

The Myanmar military’s airstrikes and artillery fire have caused civilian casualties and rendered the towns of Mogok and Kyaukme too dangerous for displaced residents to return

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