Myanmar junta airstrikes have targeted Kyaukme town under Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) control in northern Shan State while the regime tries to retake the nearby town of Nawnghkio.
Observers believe junta airstrikes on civilians are intended to pressure the TNLA to withdraw from Nawnghkio Township.
The TNLA and allies liberated Kyaukme in August last year after seizing neighboring Nawnghkio a month earlier.
Airstrikes targeted Kyaukme and a former battalion headquarters on Sunday night, according to the TNLA.
Regime airstrikes reportedly dropped two 250lb bombs on Sunday afternoon, injuring six residents and destroying 10 houses, a monastery and school.
On June 26, two 250lb bombs were reportedly dropped on Kyaukme, killing a female resident, injuring two other civilians and destroying two houses.
The regime dropped two 500lb bombs on the town on June 24, killing four people, including displaced civilians who had sought refuge, wounding 14 others, including two children, and destroying 49 houses and two school buildings, according to the TNLA.
A Kyaukme resident posted a Facebook video warning his neighbors not to return to the town.
The regime is attempting to retake Nawnghkio from the TNLA.
The town is strategically located on the Mandalay-Muse road to China and is a gateway connecting Mandalay Region and southern and northern Shan State, which is largely held by the Brotherhood Alliance, of which the TNLA is a member.
Former army captain Zin Yaw, who defected from the military after the 2021 coup, said: “The regime is bombing Kyaukme because it believes the town is supporting the TNLA’s defense in Nawnghkio.”
He said the junta’s bombardment of Kyaukme was probably an attempt to pressure the TNLA to stop fighting.
The former captain added that the regime halted airstrikes on territory held by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) — another Brotherhood Alliance—after it bowed to Chinese pressure and handed back Lashio, the capital of northern Shan State, to the regime in April. The MNDAA and allies seized Lashio in August last year.
The TNLA and its allies seized 11 townships in northern Shan State and Mogoke, a ruby town in northern Mandalay Region, and they face Chinese pressure to withdraw.
The regime has been bombarding TNLA-held towns since it rejected junta demands at China-brokered peace talks in Kunming in late April.
