Thirty-eight civilians were killed in regime airstrikes deliberately targeting civilian areas controlled by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State and northern Mandalay Region in November, according to the ethnic army.
Seventy people, including children and monks, were injured in the strikes, which also destroyed 130 houses, the TNLA said.
The bombing of TNLA-controlled civilian areas has continued despite the ethnic army announcing it is willing to engage in peace talks with the regime.
On Saturday night, a junta warplane dropped two 500-lb bombs on a residential ward of TNLA-controlled Kyaukme town, killing around 10 civilians and injuring 20 others. The bombardment also destroyed 25 houses, the TNLA said.
The unprovoked airstrikes against civilian targets in TNLA territory intensified after junta boss Min Aung Hlaing visited China in early November. Beijing has warned the TNLA to stop fighting the regime or face consequences.
One day after Min Aung Hlaing returned from the 8th Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Summit in Kumming, China, junta aircraft bombed the ruby town of Mogoke in northern Mandalay Region on Nov. 11. The bombing marked the first airstrikes on the town since it was seized by the TNLA and allies in July.
The airstrike killed nine civilians, injured 13, and destroyed numerous houses in Mogoke. On the following day, a junta fighter dropped another 500-lb bomb on a crowded tea shop in the TNLA-administrated town of Nawnghkio in northern Shan State, killing 11 civilains and injuring 11 others.
The ethnic army said the junta is deliberately bombing residential targets with warplanes, causing civilian casualties and destroying homes, shops and property.
The TNLA is a member of the Brotherhood Alliance, whose Operation 1027 has liberated most of northern Shan State after capturing some 25 towns and the capital, Lashio.
Beijing has closed its border trade crossings to northern Shan State, cutting off supplies and inflicting economic hardship on residents, in an apparent effort to halt TNLA attacks on the regime.
China has also detained the chief of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), an ally of the TNLA in the Brotherhood Alliance, to pressure the ethnic army to halt its offensive in northern Shan State.
