Junta forces push toward Namtu after capturing Hsipaw

The Myanmar military is pushing deeper into northern Shan State, advancing toward the strategic mining town of Namtu just days after seizing it from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), local sources said. Local sources told Myanmar Now that junta troops have been moving towards the north of Hsipaw, along the roughly 40-mile route connecting Hsipaw and Namtu since capturing the urban area of Hsipaw in mid-October. Shan State Army (SSA) sources, the armed wing of the Shan State Progress Party, said that junta troops are holding one side of Moe Tay Bridge, roughly six miles north of Hsipaw, near the village of the same name, according to the SSA. The opposite side still remains under the control of the TNLA. The town lies about 40 miles northwest of Lashio, the largest urban centre in northern Shan State, which was handed over to the junta by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in late April. Some villages along the Hsipaw-Namtu route are raising Shan flags to avoid being caught up in the imminent fighting between the military regime and the TNLA, local sources said. “Every house in the villages between Pang Long and Man San is flying Shan flags to signal that they are Shan, not Ta’ang or Palaung,” a resident of Namtu Township told Myanmar Now. “But in war, it doesn’t matter. The military is bombing every village without distinguishing between Shan or Ta’ang communities.” Since early October, the junta has carried out repeated airstrikes on civilian areas, killing at least 47 people—including 10 children—in TNLA-held townships across northern Shan State and Mandalay Region, according to resistance sources. Local residents are struggling to access medical treatment, as healthcare services remain largely out of reach while residential areas have become the main targets of junta airstrikes, according to the Ta’ang Women’s Organization. “It is difficult for the wounded to reach hospitals. Road blockades and limited transport make it hard to access medical care,” a representative from the women’s group said. “In addition, many families cannot afford the cost of treatment. As a result, people who might have survived have died.”

Junta forces push toward Namtu after capturing Hsipaw

As the regime advances on the strategic mining town, residents say they’re desperate to avoid being targeted amid indiscriminate airstrikes on civilian areas

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