Amid renewed fighting in northern Shan State, the ethnic armed group Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) assaulted a police station and two military bases in Lashio Township on Monday.
Fighters of the ethnic armed organisation (EAO) laid siege to the Ward 12 police station near the township stadium, a military base in Ward 5, and another base outside Lashio near Pang Huong village by 4pm, then began to deploy “massive firepower” against their targets, according to a member of the People’s Defence Force (PDF), the armed wing of the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG).
“We heard the MNDAA had recently arrived in the township. Many ethnic armed organisations now have access to more weapons and munitions,” the PDF member said.
The ensuing clashes continued until around 7am. A remnant missile, casings, a communications device and wires were found on the battlefield after the fighting ended.
The number of casualties is still unknown.
Yan Naing, a spokesperson for the MNDAA, said the organisation had not received precise information on the outcome of the battle at the time of reporting.
A member of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), another EAO operating in Shan State, said the MNDAA had initiated the attack on the junta and police targets, but that fighters of the newly formed inter-ethnic Brigade 611 had also participated.
After the military coup of 2021, the MNDAA offered military training to young people who volunteered to join the armed resistance. Brigade 611, which is made up of such volunteers, was formed in January of this year, and has since received arms and begun to engage in combat.
The TNLA, MNDAA, and Kachin Independence Army, as well as several PDF battalions, are active near Lashio, where the Northeastern Regional Command of the Myanmar military is headquartered.
Along with the Arakan Army (AA)—a Rakhine EAO—the TNLA and MNDAA are members of the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which met with a junta delegation in Mongla, Shan State, between June 1 and 3 for talks sponsored by the Chinese government. A spokesperson for the AA commented during the talks that the organisation’s political position had not changed.
The talks ended earlier than scheduled, as battles broke out in the Shan State townships of Hsenwi (or Hseni), Laukkai, and Lashio between June 2 and June 5.
Spokesperson Yan Naing said the MNDAA fighters battled a junta column of more than 70 soldiers for an hour after they attacked a temporary base belonging to Brigade 611 in Hsenwi Township on the morning of June 2.
“There had been no fighting in new areas for some time, but when they launched an attack on a temporary base of ours, the battle was intense. We had to postpone an area clearance operation today because we were still engaged in the battle,” Yan Naing said one day after the clash began.
A junta column of around 100 soldiers attacked a MNDAA base in the Ton Shan region southwest of Laukkai in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone on June 3, leading to a three-hour battle that left one MNDAA fighter dead and another injured.
“It’s as if it’s become a tradition now that every time there are talks [with junta officials], there’s fighting. It seems like there’s no connection between the meetings and the real situation on the ground, and they always go in opposite directions,” said Yan Naing.
The military council agreed to a temporary ceasefire with the AA in November of last year, but relations have remained tense. Neither the TNLA nor the MNDAA were party to the suspension of hostilities despite their alliance with the AA, and their conflict with military forces is ongoing.
