Tensions are building between the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta’ang National Liberation (TNLA) in Kutkai, a northern Shan town controlled by the latter, according to residents.
Tensions were sparked on Saturday when seven TNLA soldiers were deployed to the town’s agricultural office but MNDAA troops already stationed there objected to their presence.
Over 100 MNDAA troops then arrested the seven TNLA members, a Kutkai resident close to the TNLA told The Irrawaddy.
“The MNDAA troops said that TNLA personnel could not stay. They mustered troops, who detained the TNLA soldiers and seized their weapons,” said the source.
The MNDAA then took control of the neighborhood around the office, detaining any TNLA members found in the area. Around 30 TNLA troops were arrested and their weapons confiscated, a TNLA officer confirmed to The Irrawaddy.
The TNLA members were released unharmed at around 4 pm on Saturday, the TNLA officer added.
TNLA spokesperson Lwei Yay Oo told The Irrawaddy that the ethnic armed group’s liaison office was holding talks on the issue with the MNDAA but said he did not know the outcome.
MNDAA troops attempted to return the seized weapons on Saturday night but the offer was rejected by the TNLA, said residents.
The situation normalized on Sunday with MNDAA troops remaining at the agricultural office and TNLA troops being allowed to re-enter the surrounding area.
The TNLA and MNDAA are members of the tripartite Brotherhood Alliance, whose Operation 1027 offensive inflicted a series of heavy defeats on junta forces across northern Shan State from late October to mid-January before China brokered a ceasefire.
Saturday’s tension was the first outward sign of friction between the two military allies, both of whom are based in northern Shan State.
Kutkai town fell on January 8 following an onslaught by Brotherhood Alliance troops. The TNLA has since installed its own administration in Kutkai, while the MNDAA has occupied at least five administrative offices in the town, performing certain administrative functions.
The TNLA insisted on taking total control of the town’s administration during talks held by the two groups last week, according to a source close to a TNLA official who was at the meeting.
Kutkai was the seventh town seized by the TNLA in northern Shan State during Operation 1027.
More than 1,000 TNLA troops are currently stationed in the town, where the TNLA has restored communications and rebuilt roads and bridges damaged in the fighting. The armed group is also working to rebuild a power station that was bombed by the MNDAA during Operation 1027.
