Intense clashes erupted in Laukkai Township near the Chinese border in northern Shan State on Monday evening when the junta launched airstrikes against a base controlled by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the ethnic Kokang armed group said.
The resumption of fighting for control of Kokang Self-Administered Zone followed an eight-day lull that began after Chinese-brokered peace talks between Myanmar’s junta and the Brotherhood Alliance, which the MNDAA is a member of.
The junta’s military was the first to attack, according to the MNDAA. It said that on Monday evening the junta’s military attacked its base in the Laoxiangtang area of Laukkai Township – in the south of Kokang Self-Administered Zone – and that it began defending the base the next day.
The MNDAA and two other members of the Brotherhood Alliance – the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arkan Army (AA) – began a coordinated attack on junta forces in northern Shan State on Oct. 27 that they dubbed Operation 1027 after the date of its launch. It succeeded in seizing most junta bases and outposts in the area as well as border-trade gates between Myanmar and China.
On Dec. 11, Chinese-brokered peace talks between the regime and the Brotherhood Alliance were held in China and Beijing said they yielded “positive results.” Fighting stopped in Kokang Self-Administered Zone after the talks, but attacks by the Brotherhood Alliance in several townships across northern Shan and Rakhine states escalated.
On Monday evening, the junta used heavy artillery and fighter jets to bomb the MNDAA base in Kokang, the MNDAA said, adding that clashes broke out in the area on Tuesday as it defended itself against the regime attack. On Tuesday, the regime also used a fighter jet against the MNDAA, which released a video showing the jet firing on its troops.
Further details are unknown. The MNDAA’s spokesperson did not respond to attempts by The Irrawaddy to contact him on Wednesday.
The Brotherhood Alliance has not made any announcement about the China-brokered peace talks, but said on Dec. 13 – two days after the talks – that it would keep fighting to topple the regime in line with the desire of the people of Myanmar.
Following the reported peace talks, the ethnic alliance took control of the 105-Mile Myanmar-China Trade Zone after seizing the junta’s strategic hilltop base in the area.
On Dec. 15, the TNLA seized Namhsan Town in northern Shan State after attacking serval regime bases for six days. It also took control of Namkham Town on the China border on Monday after seizing the last of the junta’s strategic bases near the town – Sakham Thit Kone – following more than 40 days of attacks on it.
After the Brotherhood Alliance’s three ethnic armies and other resistance forces launched Operation 1027 in northern Shan State, the AA widened it by attacking junta bases and outposts in Rakhine State on Nov. 13.
In support of Operation 1027, People’s Defense Forces and other ethnic armed groups have increased anti-regime offensives in Kachin, Chin and Karenni (Kayah) states as well as Magwe, Mandalay and Sagaing regions.
More than 400 junta bases, outposts and police stations – as well as more than 20 towns and several vital trade routes – have been seized from the junta since the launch of Operation 1027.
