Myanmar junta bombs Lashio again amid halting reconstruction efforts by MNDAA

As the ethnic armed group controlling Lashio, northern Shan State moved to repair infrastructure and restore normal life in the city, the latest junta airstrikes killed two civilians and injured six on Friday morning, according to local sources. Two junta warplanes dropped bombs several times over Lashio’s centre on Friday at around 3:30am, residents of the city said. “A man and woman were killed by the junta’s bombing,” a resident of Lashio’s central Ward 1 said. “Six also sustained injuries.” A pregnant woman was among those injured, he added. “A 500-pound bomb landed in Ward 1 but luckily, it did not detonate,” another resident said. Locals said that bombs also struck wards 2 and 3 near the city’s centre, hitting a large marketplace and the Green Park Hotel near the Ward 2 police station, causing extensive destruction but no reported casualties. “The Myoma Market was badly damaged, with some shops and stalls destroyed by the bombs,” a Ward 2 resident said. Lashio has been under the control the Kokang ethnic armed group Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—also known informally as the Kokang army—since it took over the Myanmar army’s Northeastern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters on August 3. With the air force seemingly targeting the most densely populated parts of the city in a series of airstrikes since the RMC fell, many residents have fled their homes to seek shelter in safer areas. “Nearly everyone on our street has left. We wake up as soon as we hear the roar of fighter jets and can’t sleep soundly at night,” a resident said. Aftermath of a junta airstrike in Lashio (Photo: Lashio Reconstruction Facebook Page) The Kokang army has been working to repair Lashio’s damaged infrastructure, inducing some of the city’s scattered residents to return home. Others have been reluctant to return due to uncertainty about the MNDAA’s motives or fear of the continuous threat of violence. After repairs to power lines damaged by the previous month’s fighting, locals say electricity was restored in five of the city’s residential wards starting last week. However, the ongoing airstrikes have caused frequent outages. The MNDAA and other armed groups launched a broad, coordinated offensive campaign against the military in northern Shan State last year, continuing to take over broad swaths of territory and strategically important positions from the military as late as last month. The military’s response, which includes mostly indiscriminate bombing even in areas where no fighting has occurred, has impacted the broader civilian population of northern Shan State. In one of six rounds of airstrikes that the junta has carried out in Lashio since early September, junta bombs also reportedly killed at least one civilian in Lashio and injured dozens three days before the Friday airstrikes. The bombing has killed several civilians and injured at least 34 in Lashio, according to the MNDAA, as well as causing extensive damage to hotels, schools, and houses in the city. The Friday airstrikes came hours after the military council offered peace negotiations to the ethnic armed groups and resistance forces opposed to its rule on Thursday, appealing to them to “give up terrorist fighting and communicate with us to solve political problems politically.” The MNDAA has publicly distanced itself from other anti-junta groups—particularly resistance forces under the command of the publicly mandated National Unity Government—but has not issued a public response to the junta’s offer at the time of reporting.

Myanmar junta bombs Lashio again amid halting reconstruction efforts by MNDAA

After losing a command headquarters in Lashio to the Kokang ethnic armed group last month, Myanmar’s military junta called for peace talks with its opponents on Thursday but nonetheless proceeded with airstrikes on the city hours later

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