Nearly a week of fighting continues in northern Shan State as junta calls in airstrikes

By DMG 12 Dec 2022

DMG Newsroom
12 December 2022, Namhsan

Fighting between Myanmar’s military regime and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in Namhsan Township, northern Shan State, continued on Monday, with the regime conducting airstrikes, according to sources.

Five houses and a religious building were burnt in a junta air raid near Konethar and Yaypone villages, areas controlled by the TNLA, on Sunday night.

The fighting was ongoing as of 1 p.m. on Monday, when DMG phoned the TNLA spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Tar Aik Kyaw.

“Three fighter jets dropped 500-lb pounds near Konethar and Yaypone villages [last night],” he told DMG.

The jet fighters dropped bombs multiple times near the two villages, during which five houses, a monastery and a school were burnt down, the TNLA information department announced on Monday.

“Three fighter jets dropped bombs at around 8 p.m. We could feel the earth vibrating,” said a resident of Yaypone Village.

The fighting erupted on December 6, with more than 1,200 locals in the area subsequently displaced by the hostilities, according to volunteers helping those displaced.

“More people are likely to be displaced by the fighting as it continues. We need more food supplies and clothes for them,” he said.

DMG was unable to obtain comment from junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun about reports of aerial attacks on the two villages.