Nun killed in ongoing junta airstrikes in northern Shan State’s Hsipaw Township

Junta warplanes conducted air raids on Wednesday in Hsipaw Township, northern Shan State, killing a nun and wounding two other civilians, according to the anti-junta ethnic armed organisation currently controlling the township’s urban centre. One of the air force’s Y-12 transport aircraft flew over Hsipaw that day, dropping bombs that damaged ten civilian homes in the residential wards of Pan Tein, Shwe Kyaung, and Oke Kyin, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) information team said. Warplanes also bombed a monastery some four miles north of town in the village of Nam Ngone, injuring two villagers and killing a Buddhist nun, according to the TNLA. Fighting has escalated in Hsipaw Township since August when a TNLA-led alliance of anti-junta forces captured the town of Kyaukme, around 22 miles southwest of Hsipaw, in the first week of the month. Hsipaw is located on a major trade route between Kyaukme and northern Shan State’s largest city, Lashio, which the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)—an ethnic armed group allied with the TNLA—took over on August 3. TNLA-led forces have held the military’s Infantry Battalion (IB) 23 base under siege outside of Hsipaw for the last two months, unable to capture the base despite maintaining control of the town. The army’s advantage in holding the base is due to their ability to use their air force to fly in reinforcement troops or conduct airstrikes targeting the besieging anti-junta forces, a source connected to the TNLA claimed. “They’ve been defending the IB 23 base fiercely, but it will fall to us sooner or later,” the source said. TNLA-led fighters reportedly succeeded in taking over two other nearby junta bases—the Light Infantry Battalion 503 and 504 bases—in late September. The research and monitoring group Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) reported on Wednesday that 18 civilian deaths had occurred in Hsipaw Township in the previous six weeks, bringing the total confirmed death toll to 37 since mid-July of this year, when clashes escalated around the town. Within the same period, at least 53 civilians are also confirmed to have been injured, according to the SHRF, and more than half of the town’s inhabitants have been displaced by airstrikes and shelling. The town’s remaining residents have left their homes but sought shelter inside the town and at a pagoda four miles to the west, according to local aid groups assisting the displaced, who also warned of potential shortages of food and medicines after the military blocked roads to prevent anti-junta armed groups from using them as supply routes. Rubble from a junta airstrike in Hsipaw earlier this month (Photo: TNLA Information Team)

Nun killed in ongoing junta airstrikes in northern Shan State’s Hsipaw Township

The military has used all means at its disposal to defend its last base in the township, including artillery and airstrikes that have killed dozens and displaced half of Hsipaw’s inhabitants

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