Clashes broke out between junta troops and the ethnic Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and its allies near the North Eastern Command headquarters in northern Shan State’s capital Lashio on Tuesday as the junta tried to regain control of the base.
The MNDAA and allied resistance groups are poised to take complete control of Lashio after seizing the command HQ on July 25. They are currently trying to take the regime’s remaining military bases in the city.
However, the regime has denied that Lashio has fallen, insisting that its battalions in the city are tactically regrouping and redeploying, and that it will have things under control soon.
Fighting continued Tuesday near the North Eastern Command and in Wards 8 and 9 between the junta’s military and the MNDAA, a member of the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armies, helped by allied resistance groups. Civilians have been killed by shelling and some who were injured are trapped in their homes, according to residents.
“As the clashes continue, rescue teams are not able to reach these houses. Heavy clashes continue as of Tuesday afternoon,” a Lashio resident said Tuesday.
The Irrawaddy was still trying to reach sources for an update on the situation on Wednesday morning.
Combined forces of the MNDAA and Bamar People’s Liberation Army (BPLA) seized the headquarters of a Lashio-based signal battalion, the headquarters of the 7005th Armored Battalion and the headquarters of the 242nd Ordnance Unit, as well as a golf course belonging to the junta military on July 28 and 29, according to a BPLA statement.
At around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, at least 10 improvised shells were fired at the North Eastern Command, some of whose buildings caught fire, residents said.
“Some junta troops that had spread out around the city reentered the command, and that’s why the MNDAA focused on them again, so they could not base themselves inside the command again,” said a source close to the alliance.
Presently, the MNDAA and allies are taking up positions at various places around the city and the situation in Lashio remains chaotic as the ethnic army attempts to establish an administration there, he said.
In a statement released on July 29, the MNDAA said it had taken control of Lashio Railway Station, Lashio Prison—from which it released hundreds of prisoners including about 200 political prisoners—Infantry Battalions 68 and 41, the Hopeik Toll Gate area, the 912th Engineer Battalion and a junta military broadcasting station.
Heavy clashes also continued in Mongmit, Nawnghkio and Kyaukme townships in northern Shan State and in Mogoke Township in Mandalay Region between the junta military and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)—which is also a member of the Brotherhood Alliance—and its allies on Monday and Tuesday.
The TNLA said in a statement released on Monday evening that it seized a patrol outpost from the junta’s 348th Light Infantry Battalion in Mongmit Township on Monday and that the TNLA and its allies, including the People’s Defense Force, are still launching attacks on a strategic hilltop outpost, the 21st Military Operations Command and the 348th Light Infantry Battalion in Mongmit.
Heavy clashes also broke out near Yay Hpyu monastery in Nawnghkio Township, which is under the control of the TNLA, on Monday.
The Brotherhood Alliance comprising the MNDAA, TNLA and Arakan Army launched Operation 1027 in Shan State on Oct. 17 last year, seizing hundreds of junta bases, command centers and 24 battalion headquarters, as well as around 20 towns and trade routes with China.
The operation was halted on Jan. 10 after the alliance agreed to a China-brokered ceasefire with the regime. The TNLA and MNDAA resumed the operation in northern Shan State on June 25 after junta forces violated the ceasefire by repeatedly bombarding TNLA territory in early June.
