Ta’ang fighters capture Myanmar army’s last base in Hsipaw Township

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army took over the last battalion base from junta forces in Hsipaw Township, northern Shan State on Saturday after months of intense fighting, the group’s spokespersons said. With the capture of the army’s Infantry Battalion (IB) 23 base outside of town, the TNLA has completed its takeover of the town of Hsipaw—located some 40 miles southwest of northern Shan State’s administrative centre, Lashio—having taken over most of its urban wards in August and September. The TNLA’s press team confirmed the capture of the IB 23 base in a statement issued on Sunday. “We captured the junta’s remaining IB 23 base around 1pm yesterday. The city is now fully under our control,” a TNLA spokesperson said. “The IB 23 has been under our control since yesterday, when the junta garrison abandoned their posts,” another source associated with the TNLA confirmed: “We are still tracking their whereabouts.” Clashes have intensified since early August in Hsipaw, a small town located on a major trade route between Kyaukme, another TNLA-controlled town, and Lashio, which has been under the control of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a TNLA ally, since August 3. TNLA-led fighting forces were able to occupy two junta battalion bases—the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 503 and LIB 504 bases—in Hsipaw Township by late September. However, fighting continued at the IB 23 base as the military regime resorted to frequent, heavy airstrikes to defend its last stronghold in the township. “They carried out bombings last night and during the battle yesterday,” a TNLA spokesperson said. At least 37 civilians have been killed and 53 injured by junta airstrikes and artillery shelling in Hsipaw Township since July 19, according to a local human rights advocacy group. The junta’s bombs and shells have also damaged more than 120 buildings in the township with no combatants present, such as civilians’ houses, schools, monasteries, and healthcare facilities, over the two months of fighting, the group said. The Hsipaw Prison was among the buildings damaged during clashes in early August. Around two-thirds of Hsipaw residents fled their homes in mid-August as TNLA-led forces took over the town, with many seeking refuge either in neighbouring villages or shelters in the town away from the fighting. Some have yet to return home. “It’s impossible for us to go back right now because the junta were still conducting airstrikes even as of this morning,” a displaced resident of Hsipaw Township said. The latest junta airstrikes in northern Shan State, which took place on Monday, killed three men and wounded one woman and one four-year-old child in Ei Naing village, some eight miles west of Lashio. Aerial assaults also injured at least five civilians in a village in the region’s Hsenwi Township last Thursday, and the TNLA has claimed clashes with the military are ongoing in parts of Nawnghkio Township, another area under partial TNLA control near northern Shan State’s border with Mandalay Region. Chinese officials issued a statement in late August calling for the TNLA to lay down its arms. The Ta’ang ethnic armed group’s ally, the MNDAA, released its own statement under pressure from China forgoing all cooperation with the publicly mandated National Unity Government—the body commanding armed resistance groups formed since the 2021 coup. Ongoing clashes, as well as the occupation of border towns by the TNLA and other ethnic armed groups, have interrupted the flow of trade goods over the China-Myanmar border, especially in northern Shan State. The TNLA has seized five towns since June of this year, including Hsipaw and Mogok, Mandalay Region, a town famous for its ruby and gemstone production. Offensive operations by the Ta’ang armed group and its allies have brought a total of 12 towns under its control since the launch of the Operation 1027 campaign against the military in October 2023.

Ta’ang fighters capture Myanmar army’s last base in Hsipaw Township

The regime’s air force continued to attack northern Shan State as anti-junta forces completed their takeover of Hsipaw Township by seizing the military’s Infantry Battalion 23 base

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