The junta continued pounding Hsihseng town in Pa-O autonomous region with airstrikes and shelling on Friday, after troops from the Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLA) and its allies began attempting to seize the town in southern Shan State from the junta’s military on Wednesday.
The Pa-O National Liberation Organization is a signatory of the nationwide ceasefire. Troops from its armed wing, the PNLA, local People’s Defense Forces and the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force entered Hsihseng town on Wednesday morning.
It was the first time that joint resistance forces attacked a junta-controlled town in southern Shan State. Numerous towns have been captured by the Brotherhood Alliance and its allies in the state’s north since it launched Operation 1027 on Oct. 27 last year.
Residents of the town said the junta’s military began launching aerial attacks on the town on Wednesday, after the joint resistance forces entered the town in the morning and torched checkpoints manned by junta soldiers and troops from their allied militia, the Pa-O National Organization (PNO).
A junta fighter jet began bombing the town on Wednesday afternoon. Intense fighting between resistance forces and junta and PNO troops began in the evening and lasted till 2 a.m., residents told The Irrawaddy.
They said homes were aflame and that residents were fleeing the town.
The resistance forces seized most of Hsihseng town on Thursday, including its police station and administrative departments.
The PNLA said the regime hit the town and nearby villages with 20 airstrikes on Thursday.
By Friday morning, more than 95 percent of the town’s residents had fled, a rescue worker said. He estimated that there were still more than 100 residents in the town waiting to get out, but said the junta’s military had blocked all access to the town.
“The joint resistance forces announced to civilians that they should leave the town before 9 a.m. on Thursday,” he added.
On Friday, two junta jets bombed the town again, while troops at a junta base a mile away shelled it.
“They are fighting again today and fighter jets are bombing constantly. We can’t count how many times they bombed the town,” the rescue worker said, adding that he had heard that the junta was sending reinforcements to the town from its bases in Taunggyi and Ba Htoo.
Hsihseng is about a two-hour drive from Shan State’s capital, Taunggyi, and close to Karenni State, where resistance forces have seized 80 percent of the state.
The PNLO signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in 2015 and has continued to participate in peace talks since the coup. Its leader, Khun Oakkar, has also held talks with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw and was bestowed with an honorary title by the regime.
The PNLA released a statement on Wednesday evening, saying it was trying to ensure peace and stability for the Pa-O people and their region.
Prior to the PNLA’s attack on Hsihseng with its allies on Wednesday, fighting broke out between junta and PNLA troops on Jan. 20 when junta troops tried to confiscate arms and ammunition from a five-vehicle PNLA convoy they had stopped and inspected in Hopong Township’s Sam Hpu Village.
On the night of Jan. 22, the junta jets bombed Naung Htaw Village near Hsihseng town, killing two people.
Due to its proximity to Karenni State, Hsihseng hosted tens of thousands of refugees fleeing their homes due to fighting. The rescue worker in Hsihseng estimated that two thirds of the town’s population were refugees from Karenni state.
They swiftly moved to Taunggyi and Hopong townships to escape a new wave of bombing.
The rescue worker said it was not possible to estimate the number of casualties from airstrikes and shelling due to the intense fighting going on now.
