More than 100 cargo trucks were destroyed in an attack on junta troops guarding the Jin San Jiao (Kyin San Kyawt) border gate to China in northern Shan State last week, according to local merchants.
Financial losses amounted to about 30 billion kyats, or over US$ 14.33 million at the official exchange rate, according to sources in the border trade zone.
Jin San Jiao gate is located about 10 kilometers from Muse, Myanmar’s key border trade town with China.
Drones were used to drop bombs on more than 100 junta soldiers guarding the gate on Thursday. Cargo trucks hit in the attack caught fire, merchants told The Irrawaddy.
“It was a drone attack. We don’t know how many Myanmar military casualties it caused. We saw around 20 soldiers extinguishing the blazing trucks,” a merchant told The Irrawaddy.
The trucks were reportedly loaded with machines, food and household goods imported from China. They were trapped at the gate due to ongoing fighting in the area.
Junta troops reportedly occupied Jin San Jiao gate last Monday (November 20), taking cover in the terminal where trucks were parked.
More than 1,000 cargo trucks were parked in the Jin San Jao border compound, with another 250 cargo trucks in the adjacent truck terminal, a source in the border trade hub told The Irrawaddy.
Truck drivers and fire fighters from the 105th mile border trade camp in Muse battled for several hours to put out the fires. They were finally extinguished at 5 pm on Thursday.
The Brotherhood Alliance – a tripartite military alliance made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army – launched an anti-regime offensive in northern Shan State in late October. The ethnic alliance has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack on Jin San Jiao gate, however.
The alliance seized Kyugok (Pansai) town and Wanding border gate in Muse Township, close to Jin San Jiao, in mid-November. Border residents say it is now attempting to seize control of the 105th mile and Jin San Jiao border gates too.
