Myanmar military bombs city near China border as anti-regime groups announce ceasefire

Myanmar’s military dropped bombs on Laukkai, the capital of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone (SAZ), early Sunday morning, hours before the group controlling the city said it would cease fighting for the next four days. A spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) told Myanmar Now that the incident occurred in the city’s Ton Chain Ward at around 2am on Sunday. “They dropped bombs in front of the Fully Light Hotel, damaging three or four civilian houses,” the spokesperson said, adding that it was unclear if there were any casualties. The attack comes amid a push by the MNDAA, which took control of Laukkai earlier this year, to capture junta bases near Lashio, northern Shan State’s largest city, together with its allies. That offensive, which began on July 3 following the collapse late last month of a Chinese-brokered ceasefire that had been in place since January, is currently centred on the Light Infantry Battalion 507 base just south of Lashio, according to local sources. Preparations are also being made to launch an assault on the Infantry Battalion 68 base on the northeastern side of the city, the sources added. The fighting near Lashio has also raised concerns in Laukkai, which is located some 115 miles to the northeast on the Myanmar-China border. Residents of Laukkai said that most Chinese nationals in the city have returned to China since the fighting resumed, while some locals have taken shelter in camps set up close to the border. Power and internet, both supplied by China, have been cut off amid the growing tensions, which also saw the temporary closure of the border, according to sources. In response to China’s growing fears of a full-blown conflict right on its border, the MNDAA and its allies announced on Sunday that they would suspend their operations until Thursday as Chinese Communist Party leaders gather in Beijing from July 14-18 for their important Third Plenum meeting. However, residents of Lashio reported that clashes were still taking place near the city late Sunday. The temporary ceasefire only applies to northern Shan State, which borders China, and not to areas of neighbouring Mandalay Region, such as Mogok, Madaya and Singu townships, where allied anti-regime forces are also waging a renewed offensive. Meanwhile, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic armed group, occupied another town southeast of Lashio on Saturday, two days after it took over the town of Tangyan to “protect” it from the conflict. Mongyai, located about 40 miles west of Tangyan on the road to Lashio, was handed over to troops from the UWSA and the Shan State Army, the armed wing of the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), after negotiations with regime officials, a source there said. “At around 8am, UWSA and SSPP troops held talks with junta officials based along the Mongyai-Lashio road. They then entered the town by several trucks,” a local man told Myanmar Now. However, junta troops stationed in the area—including those from infantry battalions 325, 350, and 67—remain at their bases, the source said. Mongyai is some 57 miles southeast of Lashio, where the junta’s Northeastern Regional Military Command is headquartered.

Myanmar military bombs city near China border as anti-regime groups announce ceasefire

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