ASEAN HEADLINE: Military shells, bombs Kyaukme as clashes continue in northern Shan State, Mandalay Region
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Urban wards in the town of Kyaukme, which anti-regime fighters took over last Friday, came under attack by the junta air force on Sunday as clashes displaced thousands in surrounding townships
Shelling and lethal airstrikes by the Myanmar military regime devastated the town of Kyaukme, northern Shan State on Sunday after anti-regime fighters seized control of the town last week, according to locals and anti-junta forces.
Residents of Kyaukme Township told Myanmar Now on Monday that bombs dropped by a junta fighter jet hit a private hotel in the urban centre of the township—which is currently under the control of anti-regime forces—at around 11:20pm on Sunday.
“At least two civilians lost their lives in the airstrike,” a social welfare volunteer based in the township said.
Describing the extent of the destruction, another civilian living in Kyaukme said that in addition to destroying the hotel’s fifth floor, the airstrikes destroyed or caused significant damage to around 20 nearby houses in the populous ward.
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“The hotel has two buildings. The highest level of the five-storey building was totally destroyed in the airstrike. A house next to the hotel was completely razed by the explosions,” the Kyaukme resident said.
A Buddhist monastic school at two houses’ distance from the hotel was still standing after the air raid, having sustained only minor damage to its roof, sources said.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)—one of the three members of the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organisations that carried out a coordinated offensive against junta forces in northern Shan State last year—resumed attacks on the Myanmar military in northern Shan State last week, citing the junta forces’ recent breaches of a ceasefire to which the TNLA agreed in January.
Since resuming the offensive last week, the TNLA has taken control of the town of Nawnghkio, some 30 miles southwest of Kyaukme and is fighting in the neighbouring Mogok Township, Mandalay Region, an area known for ruby and gem production.
Since Friday, Kyaukme has been under the control of TNLA-led anti-regime forces, which took over by driving junta troops out of most of their military outposts in the township last week, locals said.
Video footage posted on Facebook by Kyaukme residents showed black smoke billowing over the township’s urban wards on Monday morning, hours after the airstrikes.
“The fighting has mostly died down this morning,” a resident said. “But a petrol station caught fire in Ward 9 when it was hit by an artillery shell at around 9am.”
The TNLA’s information team claimed a junta warplane dropped a 500-pound bomb near a fire station in a residential area on Saturday, damaging at least eight houses.
The TNLA also said that at least 22 people had been killed and another 30 injured by junta artillery and airstrikes in Nawnghkio, Kyaukme, and Mogok townships during six days of clashes. Myanmar Now has been unable to confirm this independently, and civilians in Kyaukme Township said the number of casualties may be higher.
“The death toll could be more than 40 in Kyaukme alone,” a Kyaukme resident said. “Five of the nine urban wards have been hit by shelling and airstrikes.”
As many as 15,000 residents have fled their homes in Kyaukme Township due to fighting, according to social welfare volunteers. At least 8,000 have been sheltering in a dozen monasteries and villages outside of town since last Wednesday, volunteers and displaced people said.
“More residents left the town this morning due to the fear of junta airstrikes. I evacuated at least 30 families to monasteries in nearby villages this morning,” a social welfare volunteer said.
“My family fled our home on June 26 because our ward is close to the junta base and we are afraid of junta warplanes,” a displaced woman in her 20s said. “We are safe here, but we still need donations for our daily food supplies.”
The woman was among nearly 500 displaced people, mostly women and children, staying at a monastery in Pong Woe village tract approximately two hours from Kyaukme by car. Displaced people at another monastery in Chaung Chauk village also said they were in urgent need of food supplies.
Having already taken over Nawnghkio and Kyaukme last week, forces led by the TNLA also captured four junta outposts in Mogok Township and Mongmit Township, northern Shan State by Sunday, the TNLA press team said.
Fighting is ongoing in all four townships.
The TNLA claims to have taken 53 surrendering junta troops prisoner in northern Shan State and Mandalay Region. Junta airstrikes have killed at least three civilians including a monk and a child in eastern Mogok, and that the intense fighting in the township has displaced thousands, according to the TNLA.
Locals said the TNLA and its allies also took control of Kyat Pyin village, Mogok Township on Sunday, but the TNLA has not issued a statement confirming this or giving details about the combat situation at the time of reporting.
