Myanmar’s anti-regime Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has vowed an “appropriate response” after accusing the junta of breaking a ceasefire by shelling one of its outposts.
Junta troops based at Pyu Yaung village in Mogok Township, Mandalay Region, fired four shells plus bullets at a TNLA outpost in neighboring Nyaung Kone village on Saturday (May 4), the TNLA said on Wednesday.
TNLA spokeswoman Lway Yay Oo said the regime is carrying out attacks on TNLA outposts in violation of the China-brokered ceasefire and the TNLA would respond appropriately.
The TNLA is a member of the Brotherhood Alliance along with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Arakan Army (AA). They launched Operation 1027 against the regime in late October. The offensive ended with a China-brokered ceasefire in mid-January.
The MNDAA and TNLA gained huge swaths of territory in northern Shan State during the offensive. The TNLA now controls seven towns in the area, including several in the Mandalay Region borderlands that are historically Shan territory.
The junta has launched strikes in TNLA-controlled areas despite the ceasefire.
“We are compiling a list of junta artillery strikes targeting our troops after the ceasefire. We are monitoring their movements. We have no plan to respond for now, but we are prepared to respond as necessary if the regime further violates the ceasefire,” said Lwei Yay Oo following the latest attack.
She added that the regime is redeploying troops to Mogok and Shan State’s Momeik (Mongmit) and Nawnghkio townships where the TNLA is active.
Infantry Battalions 148 and 71 are based in Mogok Township’s Pyu Yaung village, from where artillery is targeting the area around neighboring Nyaung Kone village, the TNLA reported. The same outpost in Pyu Yaung shelled Nyaung Kone a few days after the ceasefire was reached on January 11, according to the TNLA.
The regime has repeatedly violated the ceasefire by carrying out air and artillery strikes on outposts of the Brotherhood Alliance, inflicting civilian casualties, the ethnic armed group said.
The regime also fired six shells at Thone Sel village in Nawnghkio on April 27 and 28, wounding a 60-year-old woman and damaging two houses, said the TNLA.
