Fighting restarts near Laukkai as MNDAA seizes border gate and trade zone

Fighting has resumed near Laukkai after more than a week of relative calm, according to a statement released by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) on Tuesday. The city, which serves as the administrative centre of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone in northern Shan State, has been besieged by the MNDAA and its allies since mid-November. According to the group’s statement, Myanmar’s military carried out three airstrikes on Monday evening targeting MNDAA troops stationed in Htin Par Keng, a village tract located just north of Laukkai. This was followed by heavy shelling by junta troops based inside the city and clashes that continued into the next day, the statement said. MNDAA spokesperson Li Kyar Win was unavailable for comment at the time of reporting, but according to a resident of Laukkai, there was still no sign of an ease in the fighting as of 6pm on Tuesday. “They’ve been clashing all day long. There’s a battle going on right now near Yinhpone and Taung Nyinaung,” he said, referring to two hills north of Laukkai. “The junta’s planes are still coming and the army has stationed soldiers along the roads,” he told Myanmar Now, adding that there had been a total of five airstrikes carried out through the day. While some residents had reportedly fled the city since Monday’s clashes, most appear to be sheltering in their homes, he added. “There are [junta] soldiers almost everywhere right now, so we are all just staying inside.” It’s unclear how many people are currently living in Laukkai. Tens of thousands have fled since the beginning of the month amid fears of a full-scale battle for control of the city. The resumption of fighting comes just over a week after the MNDAA and the other two members of the Brotherhood Alliance held talks with the regime in the Chinese city of Kunming aimed at easing tensions along the China-Myanmar border. Since then, however, the MNDAA has continued to move closer to Laukkai, which was identified as a key concern of the Chinese-sponsored meeting. On Monday, the MNDAA announced that it had taken over the Yanlone Kyaing gate, a busy checkpoint for migrants and merchants crossing the China-Myanmar border, located some three miles from Laukkai. Videos posted on social media showed MNDAA troops removing Myanmar’s national flag from an immigration checkpoint at the gate and replacing it with its own flag bearing a yellow star and seven circles on a red background. Laukkai, the administrative centre of the Kokan Self-Administered Zone, has been besieged by the MNDAA troops and its allies since mid-November (Myanmar Now) The social media posts also showed MNDAA officers handing out cash to more than 100 junta troops who had reportedly surrendered. Last month, junta officials oversaw the return of thousands of Chinese nationals—allegedly victims of labour trafficking at Laukkai’s notorious scam centres—to their home country through the same border gate. The MNDAA also announced on Monday that it had seized control of the BP 125 Border Trade Area, located at the exit from Laukkai, two days earlier. The special trade zone, which is yet to be completed, is modelled after the 105-Mile Trade Zone captured by the Brotherhood Alliance near the border town of Muse last Friday. Earlier this month, the junta-appointed Kokang SAZ administration announced that there were more than 30,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) sheltering at a camp in the BP 125 trade zone. On Monday, the MNDAA's news agency The Kokang reported that the group’s executive team met with IDPs at the camp on Saturday. The Yanlone Kyaing Gate near Laukkai is the fourth border crossing to come under the control of the MNDAA since the start of the Brotherhood Alliance’s Operation 1027 offensive in late October. The first—and so far the most important—was the one at Chin Shwe Haw, which ranks second only to Muse in terms of the value of its cross-border trade with China. Between April and October of this year, more than US$700 million worth of goods passed through the Chin Shwe Haw border crossing, according to junta figures.

Fighting restarts near Laukkai as MNDAA seizes border gate and trade zone

The resumption of clashes comes just over a week after Chinese-sponsored talks aimed at averting a full-scale battle for control of the city

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