The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) say they have seized over 12 strongholds held by Myanmar’s junta and its allied militias in northern Shan State.
“Operation 1027” by the two groups, which together with the Arakan Army form the Brotherhood Alliance, has included simultaneous attacks on regime targets since Friday.
The TNLA said it seized six positions in Nawnghkio, Namkham, Nam Hpak Ka and Lashio townships while the MNDAA claimed to have seized Chinshwehaw town in Laukkaing Township on the Chinese border, seizing at least six junta strongholds. Laukkaing town is now reportedly poised to fall to the armed group.
The two groups said numerous junta troops and police officers had been killed or detained.
A raid at Pein Sar village in Theinni Township left at least 40 police and troops dead, the TNLA claimed.
The Northeast Command headquarters in Lashio was attacked with at least four rockets on Friday evening, said an activist in the city. The base had reportedly been shelling the rest of the township before the rocket attack.
At least four civilians died in Friday’s shelling, according to the TNLA.
“Two people in Namkham and one each in Nam Hpak Ka and Kutkai were killed in the junta shelling,” said a TNLA member in Namkham, adding that the junta had lost more than 100 personnel with at least 18 soldiers’ bodies found.
A Shan activist said Laukkaing and Chinshwehaw towns were important for MNDAA plans, Theinni while the junta had been trying to establish a regional command in Laukkaing on the Chinese border.
Analysts said the MNDAA’s advances into Chinshwehaw and Laukkaing showed its return to its Kokang heartland, where it was based after 1989.
All trade routes with China, including the busiest border in Muse, are now reportedly under Brotherhood Alliance control and currently closed due to ongoing fighting. The Burma People’s Liberation Army (BPLA) has joined the attacks on junta targets.
“We will participate in any battle where we share a common enemy. The Brotherhood Alliance has supported us since we were established,” said Ko Lynn Lynn of the BPLA.
He said the MNDAA had trained BPLA recruits in Kokang.
Operation 1027 was welcomed by the civilian National Unity Government, Karenni National People’s Liberation Front, Mandalay and Mogoke people’s defense forces, which said they would accelerate attacks in collaboration.
