Shelling by Myanmar junta forces kill four during a wedding in Nawnghkio Township

Shelling by Myanmar’s military junta killed at least four civilians in northern Shan State’s Nawnghkio Township on Thursday, as clashes between regime forces and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) intensified following recent failed peace talks. The attack took place during a wedding being held in the village of Tha Yet Cho and left three adults and a five-year-old child dead and seven others injured, according to the TNLA’s press team. Tha Yet Cho is less than five miles north of Tawng Kham, a junta stronghold located around 16 miles south of the town of Nawnghkio, which was captured by the TNLA in July of last year. Troops stationed at the headquarters of the junta’s No. 902 Artillery Command, located on the outskirts of Tawng Hkam, were responsible for the attack, the TNLA press team said. In a statement, the ethnic Ta’ang armed group said that clashes had broken out near Tha Yet Cho and the neighbouring village of Yar Pyin on Thursday due to advances by junta troops into TNLA-controlled areas. The regime has also carried out heavy shelling and drone assaults on other TNLA-held villages near Tawng Hkam. Sources told Myanmar Now that fighting broke out near Nawng Len, a village about six miles northwest of Tawng Hkam, at around 6pm on Thursday after junta forces fired multiple rounds of artillery. The day before, heavy shelling was reported in Twang Hla, a village under the control of the Ta’ang army located less than a mile from the artillery command headquarters. According to Zin Yaw, a former Myanmar army captain who defected to the resistance, the junta is engaging in mobile defence tactics in the Tawng Hkam area. “Currently, the military is trying to maintain the control over Me Poke and Nawng Len villages, which are less than six miles from the regime’s artillery command headquarters,” he said. Earlier this week, junta troops began advancing towards Yar Pyin and Tawng Hla, two villages under the control of the Ta’ang army in the southernmost part of Nawnghkio Township, anti-regime forces led by the TNLA claimed. The junta has also recently carried out drone assaults on Ohn Ma Thee, a village around 16 miles northwest of Tawng Hkam where displaced people have been taking refuge in a monastery, according to reports. The regime has also been accused of deploying chemical weapons near its artillery command headquarters. The fighting continues despite a temporary ceasefire declared by both sides until May 30. The TNLA has come under heavy pressure from China to negotiate with the military regime for a ceasefire. However, the group has rejected demands that it withdraw its forces from five towns that it seized in northern Shan State last year as part of an offensive that it launched with its allies in late 2023. A third round of peace talks with the military regime is expected to be held in August, after a second round collapsed last week, according to the TNLA press team.

Shelling by Myanmar junta forces kill four during a wedding in Nawnghkio Township

The attack came as clashes intensify in the area amid heightened tensions following recent failed peace talks

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