Suspected ‘informants’ detained in Lashio as Myanmar junta continues airstrikes

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the ethnic Kokang armed group controlling Lashio, has arrested at least 20 alleged junta informants amid ongoing airstrikes on the city, according to local reports. The detained individuals are accused of providing the regime with information used to target the group, which seized Lashio—northern Shan State’s largest city and home to the junta’s Northeastern Regional Military Command—in early August. “We have arrested them following the regime’s air attacks,” a spokesperson for Lashio’s newly installed administration was quoted as saying in a post by a Facebook group covering the city’s reconstruction efforts. The spokesperson added that the suspects would be investigated and released if found innocent. Otherwise, they will remain in detention, he said. An MNDAA official also appeared in a video on the Facebook page saying that “so far, we have not applied the death penalty” for any alleged offences against the new administration. The group has also urged residents of Lashio to report any suspicious activity that could be related to supporting the regime’s efforts to retake the city. Myanmar Now was unable to reach anyone in the MNDAA-formed administration for comment on the reported arrests. Meanwhile, the group reported that junta airstrikes injured at least five locals near Hsenwi, another town under its control, early Thursday morning. The attacks targeted Man Chet, a village about two miles east of Hsenwi—which is about 30 miles northeast of Lashio—at around 2am, according to an MNDAA statement. Several houses were destroyed, but no fatalities were reported, the statement added. Myanmar Now was unable to obtain additional information on the situation in Hsenwi due to a telecommunications blackout in the area. According to MNDAA officials in Lashio, the city has been hit by airstrikes almost daily since early September, resulting in the death of at least nine residents. More than 40 people have also been injured in the attacks, the group added.The regime has carried out aerial assaults across much of northern Shan State in recent months, targeting areas captured by the MNDAA and its allies since the launch of their Operation 1027 offensive in October of last year.

Suspected ‘informants’ detained in Lashio as Myanmar junta continues airstrikes

The MNDAA, the armed group that captured the city more than two months ago, says that it has been attacked almost daily since early September

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