Tatmadaw Launches Offensives Against Ta’ang
By Network Media Group
Thursday, March 12, 2020
Over a hundred people fled fighting in northern Shan State on Tuesday after the Burma Army, or Tatmadaw, as it’s locally called, launched a series of offensives against the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
Mai Soe Moe Thein, who’s helping the internally displaced persons (IDPs), told NMG 125 people from Shwe Nyaung Pin and Seng Lane, located in Mohmeik township (aka Mong Mik in Shan), were displaced.
“They’re now sheltering in Loi Hser monastery in Loi Hser,” Mai Soe Moe Thein said.
Fighting broke out in Shwe Nyaung Pin village-tract, located in Mohmeik township, on March 10. IDPs fled their homes as soon as they heard the sound of gunfire.
Maj Mai Aik Kyaw, in charge of PSLF/TNLA’s information department, confirmed the clashes with NMG.
“The Tatmadaw launched many offensive operations against our soldiers on several fronts and it’s why the fighting is happening. They are trying to chase us down and they attacked us yesterday when we were in the jungle,” he said.
The IDPs are being looked after by locals and civil society organisations, Mai Soe Moe Thein said.
Lway Chi Sanga, the spokesperson for Ta’ang Women Organization (TWO), told NMG
villagers displaced by the fighting are also from Peing Pyit village in Mohgok township, located in Mandalay region.
“I think the clashes are occurring between Mohmeik and Mohgok townships,” she said. Everyone is getting enough food and shelter, Lway Chi Sanga said, but if they can’t return home soon they will need more assistance.
Most of the IDPs are children and the elderly. In Loi Hser, the village headman and some of the adults have stayed behind to watch over their village.
