The Myanmar junta launched a lethal airstrike near a ruby mine in Mandalay’s Mogoke Township, which is under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), early on Monday morning, killing at least five civilians and injuring 19 others.
At around 1 a.m. Monday a Y-12 aircraft dropped approximately 20 bombs in the western part of the township, according to a Mogoke resident now living in a nearby town.
“At least five residents were killed in the airstrike, but we don’t have further details because internet and phone lines have been down in the township since the TNLA took control,” he said, recounting what friends in Mogoke told him in a phone call on Monday morning.
He added that while large-scale mining operations have ceased since the TNLA took control of the township, some small-scale plots are still operating with the armed group’s permission. Most of these miners are residents of Mogoke and nearby towns. Currently, Mogoke residents must travel about 20 km northeast to rural areas to access phone and internet services.
Combined forces of the TNLA and allied groups, including the Mandalay People’s Defense Force (MDY PDF) under the National Unity Government, seized control of Mogoke Township in July 2024. The TNLA is currently setting up its own administration there and implementing restoration and rehabilitation efforts.
However, the township is frequently targeted by junta airstrikes. Residents believe the latest air raid may be the junta’s response to the TNLA’s seizure of mining plots, some of which have been returned to local miners and are now operational.
Mogoke, strategically located 189 km north of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, serves as a gateway to the region from northern Shan State. The town, where the junta once granted mining concessions to businesses with close ties to its military, is also prized for its mines, which account for 90 percent of Myanmar’s ruby production.
The TNLA has suspended large-scale mechanized mining but allows individual residents to continue digging for gems. Ever since the town was captured in July, junta-backed pro-military Telegram channels have been urging the regime to level it with airstrikes.
A junta airstrike in the township in November 2024 killed at least nine people. Last Thursday, a junta fighter jet dropped a bomb on a center for the elderly on Thabyay Taung Pagoda Hill in the township, severely injuring one man.
According to the TNLA’s statement, all five people killed in Monday’s airstrike were men. The attack left 14 other men and five women with severe injuries. All of the victims were civilians.
“The junta’s military is launching airstrikes on civilian targets in the absence of any ground clashes. Therefore, people in areas under our control must remain vigilant and take all possible precautions against airstrikes to avoid being harmed by junta bombs,” the ethnic army warned.
The TNLA is a member of the Brotherhood Alliance, whose Operation 1027 has liberated much of northern Shan State, capturing approximately 25 towns and the capital, Lashio.
Since the beginning of 2025, the junta’s military has conducted airstrikes in TNLA-controlled areas of northern Shan State. In January alone, these airstrikes killed at least 13 civilians and severely injured 26 others.
