Junta warplanes strike Ta’ang stronghold in northern Shan State

The Myanmar military launched multiple aerial assaults on a Ta’ang resistance-held town in northern Shan State on Tuesday and Wednesday, despite China's recent efforts to de-escalate hostilities in the war-torn state. According to interviews with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), junta fighter jets conducted two airstrikes on the resistance-controlled town of Nawnghkio, northern Shan State, targeting two administrative offices and a police station, killing nine civilians over two consecutive days. The first incident occurred on Tuesday, killing a woman and injuring two others. On Wednesday, warplanes targeted a police station killing at least eight people.“The deceased were all civilians, three women and five men,” a TNLA source who requested anonymity told Myanmar Now. “Bombs landed on a tea shop near a police station at around 11:30 am.” Two residential houses were also damaged by the junta airstrike, the source added. Pro-junta Telegram channels claimed on Tuesday that TNLA officers were attending a meeting in the buildings at the time of the attack, attempting to justify the deadly incident. The latest air strike occurred just one day after Chinese officials announced a new ceasefire agreement between the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the military regime, following a series of negotiations mediated by Chinese officials. In a response to the assaults, the TNLA asserted that the junta is intentionally targeting noncombatants. “It's a series of deliberate attacks on civilian targets by the military regime,” a spokesperson for TNLA told Myanmar Now. Nawnghkio is one of 11 towns and dozens of outposts seized by the TNLA during the first and second phases of Operation 1027, a major offensive launched in 2023 by the Nawnghkio is one of 11 towns and dozens of outposts seized by the TNLA during the first and second phases of Operation 1027, a major offensive launched in 2023 by the Brotherhood Alliance, a coalition of ethnic armed organisations in northern Shan State. The alliance is made up of the TNLA, the MNDAA, and the Arakan Army (AA). Nawnghkio has routinely faced junta airstrikes while clashes continue between TNLA fighters and regime troops in the southernmost part of the township. The TNLA stronghold sits about 35 miles east of the junta garrisoned town of Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region. Since November 2024, the military has stopped bombing Lashio, the administrative capital of northern Shan State, a key city seized by the MNDAA on August 3 of last year. In November, facing increasing pressure from China, the TNLA called for talks with the junta in an attempt to reduce tensions. Yet the military regime has continued to launch aerial assaults on both civilian areas and TNLA-controlled territories in northern Shan State despite the talks.The recent airstrikes are part of a broader pattern of junta aerial assaults that have been wracking northern Shan State for over a year. In June 2024, the military bombed a TNLA camp in Mongmit Township just a few months after signing a ceasefire with the group in January, 2024. And on November 12 last year, junta airstrikes devastated a teashop in the centre of Nawnghkio, killing at least 11 people and injuring 11 others. More recently, in mid-January, a junta warplane bombed a rural village in Kyaukme Township. Shortly after, the junta conducted airstrikes on Mogok, a ruby-mining town in northern Mandalay Region which was seized by the MNDAA in mid-2024. No civilian casualties were reported for either attack. “We are not engaging in any negotiations with the military regime,” the TNLA spokesperson said. “But there are possibilities for holding talks in the near future with the mediation of China.”

Junta warplanes strike Ta’ang stronghold in northern Shan State

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