Fresh fighting in northern Shan State displaces thousands

Thousands were forced to flee their homes outside the town of Mongmit, northern Shan State fighting between the junta and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) resumed there on Tuesday. Local civilians said that the battle broke out at around 6pm near Man Hpwei and Lel Gyi villages, approximately four miles east of Mongmit Township’s urban centre, and that the two sides fought fiercely for around an hour. “The people fled from the villages. Fearing that there would be another battle in the town, half the town’s population fled again. The military forces are still there, so people don’t dare stay in the town," a local civilian said. On January 18 of this year, the Kachin Independence Army ( KIA) and its allies launched attacks on junta forces in Mongmit Township, which is adjacent to Mabein, Manton, Mongngawt, and Namhsan townships in northern Shan State and adjacent to Mogok and Thabeikkyin townships in Mandalay Region. Along with the KIA, the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) and the People's Defense Forces (PDF) had launched an offensive in January that the junta attempted to fend off using air power. Junta airstrikes caused fires that burned down the town’s Myoma Market and more than 300 civilian houses in the town, killing an unknown number of civilians. After the KIA and its allies withdrew suddenly from Mongmit, the military council declared martial law in the township February 28, which also applied to the nearby town of Mabein. . According to locals, many of the town’s residents returned to Mongmit following the declaration of martial law, and the police station and departmental offices reopened, but schools remained closed. KIA troops after the battle to capture Nam Hpat Kar in northern Shan State on January 29. (Photo – Myat Pan/Myanmar Now) The junta has deployed hundreds of troops in villages within and surrounding the town. On June 4, spokespersons for the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)—an anti-junta ethnic armed organisation—claimed that Infantry Battalions 223 and 248 had been firing continuously on the town using heavy artillery. The TNLA also claimed that junta forces are regrouping and amassing weapons in the Shan State towns of Mongmit, Lashio, Muse, Hsipaw, Kyaukme, and Nawnghkio in preparation for a counteroffensive. Just 28 miles from Mogok in Mandalay Region, situated on a strategically important route leading to Bhamo, Kachin State, Mongmit holds strategic importance for armed groups fighting against the military.

Fresh fighting in northern Shan State displaces thousands

Clashes broke out again in Mongmit, the site of arson attacks and battles between the military and forces led by the Kachin Independence Army that reduced parts of the town to rubble earlier this year

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