Three children killed as unexploded missile detonates in northern Shan State

Three children were killed last week in northern Shan State’s Namhsan Township when an unexploded rocket-propelled grenade unexpectedly detonated while they were attempting to play with the weapon. Five children were present at the site of the blast on February 2, located near the Shwe Phee Oo tea factory in western Namhsan’s Zayan Gyi ward. “Three of the children died on the spot,” a woman from Namhsan told Myanmar Now. “The other two were not hit in the blast as they were reportedly looking for more missiles to play with.” The deceased were identified as six-year-old Meng Nay Min Aung, 10-year-old Meng Hlaing Min Aung, and 11-year-old Meng Aung Kyaw Zaw. Their funerals were held by their families on Saturday morning. Intense battles had previously taken place between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the military near the tea factory, which had been long occupied by the junta’s forces. The TNLA, which seized Namhsan from the junta in mid-December, issued a statement on the day of the explosion warning that the military had set up landmines around their bases in the township’s administrative centre and urged the public to report the discovery of any unexploded ordinances to the Ta’ang ethnic armed organisation. Locals expressed concern that the TNLA had not yet conducted any minesweeping operations in the area, but noted that on Sunday, Ta’ang troops defused seven landmines set by junta troops in late December at the strategic Moe Htay bridge. The structure connects Hsipaw and Namtu townships. A TNLA soldier is pictured defusing landmine at the Moe Tay bridge (Supplied) Along with the ethnic Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army, the TNLA launched a major offensive last October to drive the military out of northern Shan State. It was dubbed Operation 1027 and lasted two months. During this period, the TNLA overtook seven towns, and, at the time of reporting, was installing its own administrative mechanisms in these locations. The Ta’ang Women’s Organisation (TWO) announced on December 27 last year that some 28 children, 36 women, and 45 men had been killed amid the intensified fighting that accompanied the period of Operation 1027. An additional 239 civilians were injured, the civil society group said. Throughout January, 16 civilians were maimed or killed by landmines in the northern Shan State townships of Kutkai, Lashio, Muse, Namhsan and Namkham, according to TWO.

Three children killed as unexploded missile detonates in northern Shan State

The weapon was left behind at a tea factory where junta troops had been stationed in Namhsan, and where the TNLA has reportedly not yet carried out minesweeping operations

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