The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has seized Hsipaw Township in northern Shan State after defeating the last Myanmar junta battalion headquarters outside the town, despite Chinese demands to stop fighting the regime.
In late August, Beijing warned the TNLA that it would face disciplinary measures unless it ceased hostilities against the regime. The intervention sparked an anti-Chinese online backlash in Myanmar.
Lway Yay Oo, the TNLA’s spokeswoman, told the media that the Infantry Battalion 23 outside Hsipaw had fallen and more than 100 regime troops and their families surrendered on Sunday. She said the family members would be released.
Hsipaw is on the Mandalay-Lashio-Muse road to China and between Kyaukme and the northern Shan State capital, Lashio, under the control of the allied Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).
The TNLA and its allies seized Hsipaw in August but three battalion headquarters held out near the town.
Light Infantry Battalions 503 and 504 fell on September 17 amid junta airstrikes on Hsipaw town.
An anti-regime source told The Irrawaddy: “Infantry Battalion 23 was under siege for over two months and many prisoners of war were taken.”
The TNLA, MNDAA and Arakan Army form the Brotherhood Alliance which launched Operation 1027 in northern Shan State last October. The operation was halted in January after a China-brokered ceasefire was agreed with the regime.
But operations resumed in late June after the series of junta air and artillery strikes on TNLA territory in northern Shan. The groups have since seized over 25 towns, the capital, Lashio, and trade routes with China.
As an attempt to stop the armed groups from fighting the regime, Beijing has blocked border trade to Kokang where the MNDAA is based and areas liberated by the TNLA along the Chinese border, creating hardship for residents.
Leaked details recently emerged of a meeting between China’s special envoy to Myanmar, Deng Xijun, and the powerful United War State Army (UWSA), where the armed group was told to conduct a four-cut strategy of denying the MNDAA access to food, funds, information and recruits to stop it from fighting the regime.
Junta airstrikes continue throughout liberated territory.
Fighting is ongoing in Nawnghkio Township where the TNLA and its allies are attempting to seize a remaining junta bases at Taunghkam village, a gateway between northern and southern Shan State.
