Junta airstrikes hit Kyaukme again as ground troops push through northern Shan State

A junta warplane bombed a village on Tuesday morning in southern Kyaukme Township as the military continued its fight to recapture the township from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), locals said. The clashes have occurred primarily in and near the villages of Nawng Pyit and Pin Tein some 14 miles south of Kyaukme Township’s urban centre. “Junta troops are advancing on the defences set up by the Ta’ang army near Nawng Pyit village so they can access a route through the forest leading to Ming Tin village on the town of Kyaukme’s western outskirts,” a resident of the township said. The military regime has reportedly deployed two columns of ground troops backed by drone and air support, concentrating its forces on breaking the defensive lines of the TNLA, an anti-junta ethnic armed group also commonly called the Ta’ang army. The village of Loi Hkaw some four miles east of Kyaukme was also hit by airstrikes on Tuesday. “As far as I know, there were no civilian casualties because villagers have already fled their homes. Some spent the night in makeshift huts out on their farms for safety,” the township resident said. “The remaining residents of three villages near Nawng Ping fled three days ago as sounds of fighting and shelling drew closer.” Loi Hkaw is on a major route used for commercial shipments between the towns of Hsipaw and Kyaukme, both of which the TNLA controlled for months. However, the junta air force targeted it despite its significant distance from any recent fighting between the TNLA and military, according to locals After retaking control of the town of Nawnghkio from the TNLA in July, the military found the TNLA had sabotaged the Goktwin Bridge, forcing junta troops to advance by another route through the woods across the Goktwin Creek towards Nawng Ping. Now that the military has taken back Nawng Ping, battalions of the junta’s Infantry Division 11 are now pushing towards the villages of Pin Tein and Met Man Kone Thar. According to posts on pro-junta propaganda Telegram channels, junta forces took over at least two areas from the Ta’ang army on Sunday. The TNLA has not released any information about the state of battle in Kyaukme Township. Representatives of the military regime met for ceasefire talks with TNLA officials at the end of August in Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province, with the Chinese government serving as a mediator in the negotiations. TNLA officials agreed to return the towns of Hsipaw and Kyaukme to military control during the meeting. However, the talks stalled and ended inconclusively after the military demanded that the Ta’ang armed group return all towns still under its control except for Namhsan and Manton, both located in territory traditionally claimed as a homeland for the Ta’ang ethnic community. Control of Kyaukme and Hsipaw is a priority for the military due to the towns’ location on a vital trade corridor linking Myanmar’s second city, Mandalay, with Muse, a trade hub on the China-Myanmar border. According to the Shan Human Rights Foundation, at least 29 civilians have been killed and 66 injured in Kyaukme Township since the military regime launched assaults aiming to retake the area from the TNLA.

Junta airstrikes hit Kyaukme again as ground troops push through northern Shan State

With support from drones and manned aircraft, junta ground forces are advancing into territory controlled by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army on a vital China-Myanmar border trade corridor

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