Myanmar air force carries out retaliatory bombing raids in northern Shan State

Airstrikes by regime forces killed at least six civilians and partially destroyed an open air market in Kutkai Township, northern Shan State on Monday, according to local residents and ethnic armed group members. A woman in her 20s and five men were killed when junta warplanes dropped bombs near the market in Kutkai’s urban centre at around 3pm, according to a volunteer for a Kutkai-based social welfare group. “We cremated four bodies this morning. There are at least two bodies we were unable to identify,” the volunteer said. While most were not expecting the aerial attacks, some civilians fled the market after spotting a surveillance aircraft at around 2pm, according to local sources. The junta airstrikes destroyed around a third of the market and hit another nearby building in Ward 5, which was occupied by members of one of the ethnic armed groups present in the town. Residents of Kutkai responding to junta airstrikes on the afternoon of August 5 (Photo: TNLA) Kutkai was one of seven townships captured in late 2023 by the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organisations during the first phase of Operation 1027, a coordinated anti-junta offensive launched in October of that year. After agreeing to a Chinese government-brokered ceasefire with the military in January, Brotherhood Alliance fighters alleged that junta forces had breached the agreement and initiated a second phase of Operation 1027 on June 25. The Brotherhood Alliance is made up of three member groups: the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA); the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), also known colloquially as the Kokang army; and the Arakan Army. “A Kokang army office was also targeted in the airstrikes but we weren't aware whether Kokang soldiers were present at the time,” a Kutkai resident from Ward 5 said. Fear of further junta airstrikes prompted many residents to flee their homes in Kutkai, leaving many of the town’s streets quiet and deserted on Tuesday. The MNDAA released a statement on Saturday accusing the military regime of conducting the airstrikes in retaliation for heavy losses incurred while fighting the Brotherhood Alliance within the past two months. The latest junta airstrikes occurred two days after the MNDAA captured Lashio, northern Shan State’s largest city, on Saturday after overrunning the junta’s Northeastern Regional Military Command headquarters. Aftermath of the junta airstrike in Kutkai on August 5 (Photo: TNLA) The Ta’ang National Liberation Army and allied forces also took full control of Kyaukme Township, northern Shan State on Monday after overrunning two light infantry battalion bases north of town that junta ground forces had been defending with the help of air support for weeks. Junta fighter jets have carried out at least nine airstrikes in northern Shan State’s Laukkai and Hsenwi townships during July and the first week of August. Last Thursday, junta airstrikes killed at least 10 civilians and hit a hospital in the border town of Laukkai, which is under MNDAA control. A major market in Hsenwi, around 16 miles south of Kutkai, was also bombed by a junta warplane on July 18, killing at least eight people and injuring eight others, according to the MNDAA. Junta airstrikes also killed at least 15 people including children over the weekend in Singu Township, Mandalay Region, where the Brotherhood Alliance’s resistance allies have been fighting against the junta in coordination with Operation 1027.

Myanmar air force carries out retaliatory bombing raids in northern Shan State

The deadly airstrikes were evidently targeting the anti-junta fighters of the Brotherhood Alliance, who control Kutkai Township and have been gaining ground elsewhere in northern Shan State since June

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