The Myanmar junta’s air force again used highly destructive 500-lb bombs against civilian targets in ethnic rebel-held Lashio, the northern Shan State capital, on Tuesday, killing a civilian and injuring over a dozen more, according to the Lashio Reconstruction group, which is trying to rehabilitate the war-torn city.
Lashio Reconstruction was formed by the powerful ethnic armed group the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which recently liberated Lashio city and the Kokang Self-Administered Zone near the Chinese border from junta control.
It said junta aircraft used two 500-lb bombs to attack two hotels in the city at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday and returned at 4 a.m., dropping two more 500-lb bombs on areas near the hotels.
Hotel buildings and civilian houses were destroyed in the airstrikes.
A Lashio resident told The Irrawaddy there were only a few casualties this time because the junta-targeted hotels are closed and many houses affected by the bombings are empty, as the owners and families fled the fighting in the city in July.
“This is an inhumane act by the military regime. The junta fears the city will be rehabilitated [under the ethnic army’s influence]. That’s why they are relentlessly bombing the city—to deter residents who fled the recent fighting from returning home,’’ said the resident.
On Sunday, a junta fighter jet dropped two bombs on residential wards of Lashio, destroying some civilian houses and injuring a resident, the MNDAA said.
The MNDAA on Sept. 4 called on the Chinese government to resolve Myanmar’s conflict and said it would cease fighting immediately and cooperate with Beijing to end the fighting through negotiation.
Since then, however, the junta has conducted four aerial bombardments of Lashio city and another two more airstrikes on civilian targets in MNDAA territory in northern Shan State, killing around six people and injuring several others as well as destroying infrastructure and houses.
The continuous airstrikes follow the military junta’s designation of the MNDAA and its allies the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army (AA) as “terrorist groups” in early September.
The MNDAA, TNLA and AA comprise the Brotherhood Alliance, which launched the successful Operation 1027 against the regime in northern Shan State in October last year with the help of several anti-regime resistance groups.
The operation was halted in January after the ethnic alliance agreed to a China-brokered ceasefire with the regime. But fighting resumed in Shan State in June after a series of junta air and artillery strikes on civilian targets and territory under resistance control.
The ethnic alliance has seized most of northern Shan State, liberating around 25 towns and townships including the capital Lashio as well as vital trade routes with China.
Currently, Beijing is pressuring the MNDAA and TNLA to stop fighting the regime in northern Shan State.
However, fighting continues to be reported in Hsipaw and Nawnghkio townships as the TNLA and its allies attempt to seize the remaining junta bases there. In response, the junta’s air force continues to bomb Hsipaw and Nawnghkio towns almost daily.
Meanwhile, the AA has seized most of Rakhine State, liberating over 10 towns and townships since expanding Operation 1027 to western Myanmar in November last year.
