More than 10,000 villagers have been forced to flee again by renewed fighting in Hsihseng Township in southern Shan State, according to volunteers helping displaced people.
Fresh clashes erupted after a junta artillery battalion in Hsihseng Township began continuously bombarding the headquarters of the Pa-O National Liberation Army (PNLA) in Mawkmai Township early this month, said residents.
“There is an artillery unit some 10 km from Hsihseng town. It has bombarded the PNLA headquarters in Mawkmai. So, the PLNA and allied groups have responded by launching military operations, which led to fresh clashes,” one resident explained.
Junta troops clashed with combined forces of the PLNA and its allies on Aug. 6, 11 and 13 in Hsihseng Township, according to residents.
Residents from some 10 villages fled after fighting broke out in Naung Kyaw Village-tract on Aug. 13.
A volunteer helping the displaced villagers said: “The clashes were not fierce. Villagers had to flee mainly because of the junta’s artillery strikes.”
The PNLA said the bodies of 23 dead junta soldiers were found, one junta soldier was captured, and 11 guns and two drones were seized in the clashes.
Fighting first broke out in Hsihseng Township in January after the PNLA and allied groups launched an offensive against junta positions in the township—which borders Shan State’s capital of Taunggyi—as well as in Nyaungshwe, Mawkmai, Hopong, Pekon and Karenni State’s capital of Loikaw.
More than 100,000 people were displaced by the hostilities at that time. The PNLA and allied groups briefly controlled Hsihseng town and some junta positions before the regime retook them. Residents returned home over the past four months as the area became calm, but fresh clashes have forced them to flee again.
One Hsihseng town resident said: “Light Infantry Battalion 424 fell during the [first phase of] the fighting. But Light Infantry Battalion 423 remained in the town, protected by Pa-O National Organization militias. And the regime never lost access to the supply route from Taunggyi to Hsihseng. So, it was able to retake control of the town.”
Clashes have so far been confined to the outskirts of Hsihseng because the PNLA and its allies haven’t been able to launch an offensive on the same scale as the one they conducted in the previous fighting, said the resident. Over 1,000 junta and PNO troops are reportedly guarding the town, forming five perimeters around it.
In a televised address on Aug. 5, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing claimed his regime was restoring its administration in Hsihseng and Loikaw towns after seizing them back from anti-regime forces.
