Vehicles stranded by heavy fighting near Shan-Kayah border

By DMG 18 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
18 July 2022, Sittwe

Many vehicles were stranded on the Moebye-Pekon-Loikaw road after fierce fighting broke out on Monday between regime troops and anti-junta resistance forces in Moebye Township, Shan State, near the border with Kayah (Karenni) State, according to residents.

Junta troops and a coalition of Karenni resistance forces including the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) first clashed in Moebye town during the pre-dawn hours of July 18, according to a KNDF source.

“Junta troops entered the town around 2 a.m. today. The Moebye People’s Defense Force and Karenni Generation Z are fighting alongside the KNDF. The fighting is still taking place now,” a KNDF spokesman told DMG at around noon on Monday.

The fighting brought traffic to a standstill on the road linking Moebye, Pekon and Loikaw, according to cargo truck drivers.

“They are still shooting,” said a local truck driver at about noon on Monday. “We can’t drive forward. We can hear shelling and gunfire.”

At least two houses in Moebye were hit by artillery strikes, and more than 1,000 residents were forced from their homes, said locals.

“The military fired shells. Two houses were hit and caught fire. We dared not stay and fled into the forests,” said a displaced Moebye resident.

The Moebye Defense Force urged residents in range of the hostilities to seek safer locales as clashes continued until 1 p.m. on Monday.