The Myanmar army escalated its aerial bombardment of northern Shan State after reportedly suffering serious losses on the ground during days of clashes with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in Namhsan Township.
The military began its campaign against the Ta’ang ethnic armed organisation on December 7 near the group’s base in Kone Thar village—10 miles north of Namhsan town—firing heavy artillery at the site and dropping large bombs on the area and the surrounding villages.
According to the TNLA, several junta soldiers were killed, injured or captured despite the arrival of reinforcement troops via helicopter at the start of the campaign, prompting the military to cease its ground attacks on Sunday and focus on aerial bombardment.
TNLA spokesperson Lt-Col Tar Aik Kyaw claimed that the Myanmar army started carrying out airstrikes around the village of Ye Pone village in Mongmit (Momeik) Township on Monday, and continued doing so around Kone Thar on Tuesday.
“The military launched airstrikes from 10am until the evening on December 13. I think there were a total of around eight times that they came that day,” he told Myanmar Now.
While the air attacks did not continue on Wednesday, Lt-Col Tar Aik Kyaw said that military jets were seen hovering around Lashio and Mongmit townships throughout the day, and that troops had been seen regrouping in Namhsan.
He added that there had been casualties on both sides, but that the number had yet to be confirmed. The TNLA spokesperson also said that widely shared photos claiming to show bodies of junta troops slain in the recent battles were yet to be verified.
More than 1,000 people from the villages of Kone Thar, Hu Man, Man Long, Pain Long and Ta Latt have been displaced by the military offensive, according to local volunteers assisting the fleeing civilians.
An officer within a Namhsan social welfare group told Myanmar Now that a large number of internally displaced persons were taking shelter within a monastery in another village, Zayangyi.
The TNLA released a statement and photos on Tuesday showing that nearly all of the homes in Kone Thar as well as the monastery had been damaged in the junta onslaught.
“The village originally had some 60 households and almost all of the houses were hit by the military’s weapons,” Lt-Col Tar Aik Kyaw said, adding that five were completely reduced to ashes.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify the TNLA’s reports of the fighting in northern Shan State. The junta has released no information on the attacks.
