The junta has escalated it bombing campaign in northern Shan State’s Lashio Township, dropping about 185 bombs from jets and firing more than 70 shells from heavy artillery on 10 of its villages in just three days.
The intense bombardment follows the loss of two nearby townships and sections of others in northern Shan State to the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the ethnic army and residents of the township said.
The escalation in bombing is not confined to Lashio.
“They are bombing us from all directions,” said a resident of Nawnghkio Township’s Thone Sal village whose home was destroyed.
From Tuesday to Thursday, at least three civilians were killed by junta airstrikes and shelling, residents and the TNLA said.
They said six townships were hit by both airstrikes and shelling during the three days: Hsipaw, Kyaukme Lashio, Namhsan, Namtu and Nawnghkio.
Junta forces recently lost control of Namtu and Namhsan townships to the TNLA, while fierce fighting between junta troops and the TNLA is occurring in villages in Lashio and Nawnghkio townships.
Since Tuesday, junta jets have dropped 185 bombs on 10 villages in Lashio Township, while its base in Lashio town has shelled them 74 times, the TNLA said. The 10 villages are: Kone Sar, Ho Laung, Myin Pan Tar, Mongyaw, Nar Naung, Pan Khaw, Pan Nar, Pan Phat Pan Tone and Yan Aung.
The junta warned ethnic armed groups at peace talks in China last month that it would bombard areas they seized from it.
“Even if you can seize towns and villages in ethnic areas, your regions will never be peaceful. We will always carry out air raids using the sophisticated weapons we have,” Lt-General Min Naing, secretary of the National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee, was quoted as telling ethnic armed groups.
A resident of Lashio Town said that many of its residents have fled the town because of the fighting around it, but it remains heavily populated because residents of nearby villages have fled to it to escape being bombed.
“We can hear the sound of the town’s military base shelling nearby villages every day,” the Lashio resident told The Irrawaddy.
He said he and his family remain in the town because fighting has yet to reach it.
The school, library and 10 homes in Namtu Township’s Mann Li village were destroyed by an airstrike on Wednesday. Yesterday, three people in Nawnghkio Township’s Thone Sal village were killed by shelling, residents said.
After shelling the village, junta jets delivered an airstrike, a resident said.
A junta jet bombed Kwan Hae village in Namhsan Township twice yesterday even though there is no fighting in the area, the TNLA said.
A junta base in Kyaukme Township shelled Mongngaw town, which was seized by the TNLA.
Airstrikes and shelling targeting civilians has escalated since the junta lost control of townships in northern Shan State, the TNLA said.
It has taken control of seven towns in northern Shan State since the launch of the anti-junta offensive Operation 1027 by the Brotherhood Alliance on Oct. 27 last year. The TNLA is a member of the alliance.
