Civilians Suffer Causalities In Northern Shan State
By Network Media Group
Friday, July 14, 2023
On Monday 10 July, two civilians were reportedly injured in escalating clashes between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Burma army in a town in Kyaukme Township.
“TNLA soldiers are outside Mong Ngor while Burma army soldiers are inside the town,” said a man knowledgeable about the clashes who requested anonymity. The problem started after the regime tried to rotate its troops with soldiers from Khwam Hkar without informing the armed Ta’ang group, leading to the current shootout, he said.
According to reports, civilians stepped on a hidden landmine near a tea plantation close to Mong Ngor on their way home to Nam Twe from Kyaukme town. The men are being treated for leg and stomach injuries.
“They moved to Kyaukme because of the conflict and come back every year to buy tea in Nam Twe,” the source said. “I don’t know if the two men were unaware of the conflict around Nam Twe or if they knew about it and tried to return to the village using a jungle road.”
“We feel that no one is safe here because the Burma army fires shells at all times,” said a woman from Kutkai who preferred to remain unnamed.
She said shrapnel from a Burma army shell injured a woman who was riding a motorbike from Mong Yu Lay to Kutkai in the township sharing the same name on 10 July. On the same day, two women were injured by regime shelling in their home, a day after fighting broke out between the Kachin Independence Army and the regime in Namhpetka. Both women are in the hospital in Muse.
The junta frequently shells Kutkai Township and other townships in northern Shan State indiscriminately when there is no fighting.
