A junta jet fighter carried out at least two airstrikes on Namtu Town in northern Shan State after it was seized by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) this morning following a four-day battle, according to local residents.
The town was the fifth captured by the TNLA in Palaung Self-Administered Zone since the launch of Operation 1027 two months ago by the Brotherhood Alliance, the TNLA and residents said.
The TNLA said the junta’s military conducted at least 61 air and 93 artillery strikes during the four-day battle for the town.
“It is not safe for residents to return to the town,” a resident of the town said, adding that a junta jet had just dropped bombs near a golf course.
A jet fighter was seen bombing the town in video footage posted by a Namtu resident.
Namtu Town is strategically located about 40 miles east of the junta administrative capital Lashio and about 40 miles south of Hsipaw Town in northern Shan State. Residents say the town had been a major defensive position for Lashio.
TNLA troops had overrun at least four junta bases, administrative offices and a police station in Namtu Town in territory under the ethnic army’s Brigade 4, the TNLA said in a statement on Thursday.
It also captured a large cache of weapons and ammunition, including a howitzer, the statement said.
The TNLA said it began attacking junta outposts in Namtu Township on Dec. 25, but residents reported that shelling by junta forces began earlier.
A Namtu resident said: “We heard that fighting stopped yesterday [Wednesday] after midnight. Residents who remained in the town said they hadn’t heard any sound of gunfire since then.”
The junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 324, stationed near Namtu Town, responded to the attacks with heavy shelling of TNLA and civilian targets until Dec. 25.
“Shells exploded over residential wards on Dec. 22, injuring seven people. We transferred them to Hsipaw Hospital because Namtu Hospital has been closed since Dec. 22,” a volunteer in Namtu Town said.
Junta warplanes also conducted airstrikes on residential areas in Namtu, killing two residents on Christmas Day.
At least seven people, including an eight-month-old infant and three-year-old boy, were injured by junta shelling on Dec. 23, the Ta’ang Women’s Organization said.
“We fled from Namtu on Monday evening after we cremated two people killed by junta airstrikes. Since then, we are unable to enter the town yet,” a volunteer in the town said.
More than 5,000 residents and migrant workers have been displaced from the town since Dec. 22, volunteers said.
Three volunteer groups helped to evacuate over 10,00 Namtu residents to safer places, one volunteer said. Most were evacuated to Manhsan Village, 14 miles away from Namtu Town, before they continued on to safer places.
“At least 800 displaced people from Namtu are sheltering in a monastery and school in Manhsan village,” a Namtu volunteer said.
More than 120 Namtu residents have fled to Hsipaw Town and another group of displaced people are taking refuge in a monastery in Lashio Town.
The TNLA seized two towns in November, Monglon and Namkham, and another three –_Namhsan, Mantong and Namtu – this month.
The ethnic armed group said it has captured at least 69 junta bases in northern Shan State since Oct. 27.
The Brotherhood Alliance – comprised of the TNLA, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance and Arakan Army – has captured at least 12 towns and overrun more than 400 junta bases and outposts in Rakhine, Chin and northern Shan State since the launch of Operation 1027 on Oct. 27.
At least 96 people were killed and 169 were injured in 14 townships in northern Shan State due to indiscriminate shelling and aerial bombing by junta forces, the Ta’ang Women’s Organization said.
