Ta’ang fighters, allies take full control of northern Shan State’s Kyaukme Township from Myanmar military

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and its allies overran the last remaining junta outposts in Kyaukme Township on Monday evening, gaining full control of the township after more than a month of fighting, a source connected to the group said. Forces led by the TNLA—an ethnic armed organisation active in northern Shan State and Mandalay Region—captured an artillery battalion base and most of Kyaukme Township’s urban areas last month. The TNLA has held control of Kyaukme’s urban areas since then, successfully fending off an advance by over 300 junta reinforcements from southern Shan State in the third week of July, but was unable to capture the military’s infantry battalion bases north of town, in part due to the junta forces’ ability to call in air support. However, according to the TNLA-connected source at the frontline, weeks of forceful assaults by the group’s fighters and allies finally forced all junta personnel and their families out of the Military Operations Command 1 (MOC-1) headquarters, the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 501 base, and the LIB 502 base by Monday night. Buildings destroyed during clashes in Kyaukme Township, shown on July 1 (Photo: AFP) Due to the need to secure the area and prevent retaliation by junta forces, clearing operations in the area were ongoing, the source added. “Fighter jets were providing air support until nearly until all the bases had fallen. Since there’s a major junta base at the MOC-1, they were able to seize high-end weapons and even tanks,” the source said, referring to the TNLA-led fighters. “The junta had its troops operating over a wide area, so they’ve only just started the clearing operations.” Regime forces have increasingly relied on air power to fend off anti-junta forces’ attacks and to replenish its battalions’ supplies, weapons, and ammunition at its northern Shan State bases, according to sources involved in the battles. Of more than 300 junta troops and soldiers’ family members in Kyaukme, at least 100 are believed to have fled the junta bases, the source added, with the retreating forces moving towards southern Shan State. The TNLA has set up an administrative apparatus in Kyaukme’s urban wards, allowing morning markets to function as usual, but phone and electricity services are currently out of order in the town and locals are reportedly having difficulty accessing drinking water, the TNLA-connected source said. The TNLA, a Palaung ethnic armed organisation, is one of three members of the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organisations along with the Arakan Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), informally known as the Kokang Army. In the second phase of Operation 1027—a coordinated offensive initiated by the Brotherhood Alliance in October 2023 and relaunched in June of this year—the TNLA and resistance allies have captured the towns of Nawnghkio and Mongmit in northern Shan State as well as Mogok in Mandalay Region. Kyaukme, the 11th township taken over by TNLA-led forces during Operation 1027, is located on the Mandalay-Muse highway, a vital route for border trade between China and Myanmar. Map showing townships in Mandalay Region and northern Shan State captured by anti-junta ethnic armed organisations and resistance forces during the second phase of Operation 1027 With the capture of Kyaukme, all townships along this highway in northern Shan State are now under the control of the Brotherhood Alliance except Hsipaw Township, between Kyaukme and the northern Shan State capital of Lashio. The MNDAA announced on Saturday that it had taken full control of Lashio. While the military council has yet to comment publicly on the military situation in Kyaukme this week, the military council’s spokesperson Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun gave a press statement on Monday praising junta forces’ ultimately unsuccessful efforts to defend Lashio against the Brotherhood Alliance. “The battalions and units under the command of the Northeastern RMC defended against the enemy with all their strength. They fought valiantly,” he said. He also praised the Yae-Me, the soldiers’ wives who perform guard duty at military outposts and perform household duties without pay in military barracks. “Some Yae-Me fought tirelessly alongside soldiers. Yae-Me and their family members gave their lives in battle,” he added. According to Capt Zin Yaw, a former Myanmar army soldier who defected to the resistance, the TNLA and MNDAA have detained several senior military officials that had been in command of the junta forces defending Lashio and Kyaukme. The officials include Maj-Gen Soe Tint, who was formally removed as the head of the Northeastern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters in Lashio on July 18; Brig-Gen Thant Htin Soe, the Northeastern RMC’s third-in-command in Lashio; Brig-Gen Myo Min Htwe, the head of MOC-1 in Kyaukme; and Col. Aung Khaing Moe, the second-in-command at MOC-1. Brig-Gen Soe Hlaing, Soe Tint’s replacement, was unable to assume his position at the Northeastern RMC headquarters before it was captured.

Ta’ang fighters, allies take full control of northern Shan State’s Kyaukme Township from Myanmar military

While the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and its allies took control of Kyaukme Township’s urban centre last month, junta forces relied on air support to help them defend bases north of the town until this week

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