Two children among civilians killed by junta airstrike in Mongmit, northern Shan State

At least seven people were killed and eight injured on Thursday in a junta airstrike on Mongmit Township, northern Shan State, according to the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the ethnic armed group that controls the township. There were two minors among the deceased, according to the sources connected to the TNLA, who reported that a junta warplane dropped three bombs on the village of Wea Baung some 25 miles west of Mongmit. “Bombs struck a house and the road next to it. Four of those killed in the attack were male and four were female,” a man close to the Ta’ang armed group said. “Two children killed in the attack were 13 and 8 years old. At least eight others also sustained injuries.” Photos on social media showed the bodies of victims covered by blankets. Several houses, including the village administrative office, were also damaged in the bomb blasts, which reportedly occurred around 7pm. At the time of attack, there was no fighting reported in Mongmit Township, which has been under the control of the TNLA since July of 2024. However, the military regime has been conducting an aerial bombing campaign targeting TNLA-controlled territories in northern Shan State after recapturing the town of Kyaukme from the group in early October. The junta’s fight to recapture Kyaukme took nearly a month and a half. At least 18 people have been killed in the first weeks of October and more than a dozen others injured in a wave of assaults carried out by the regime’s air force in northern Shan State’s Kyaukme, Hsipaw, and Namtu townships as well as the TNLA-controlled township of Mogok in Mandalay Region. Located on the highway connecting Mandalay Region and Kachin State, Mongmit Township is in a strategically important location, bordering Kachin State’s Bhamo District, Sagaing Region’s Katha District, and Mandalay Region’s Pyin Oo Lwin District as well as the Palaung Self-Administered Zone in northern Shan State. Sources said phone communications have been cut off in Mongmit since early August 2024, when the TNLA took over the town. Restrictions on the traffic of essential goods and commodities by the military regime have also made life increasingly difficult for residents. “It’s noticeably no longer as crowded as before,” a man from Mongmit Township said. “People used to move around freely at any time of day but since the war came the town has become eerily quiet.” “Lately, activity in the town is starting to pick up again, but after hearing about incidents like this, local people are cautious and making preparations to flee, including our family,” he added. Clashes between the TNLA and junta forces are ongoing in Nar Hkaw village, Kyaukme Township, which is located some two miles east of the urban centre, on an important trade route connecting central Myanmar with the Chinese border. Junta forces are pushing towards Hsipaw Township in an apparent bid to recapture the town from anti-junta forces before the election planned for this December and January, local sources said. “Junta troops captured a TNLA position on a hilltop pagoda in Nar Hkaw, but they could not hold the entire village,” a resistance fighter linked to the TNLA said.

Two children among civilians killed by junta airstrike in Mongmit, northern Shan State

While there has been no recent fighting in or near the town, the junta has been targeting territories under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which has held Mongmit since last year

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