The Burma Army reportedly shot and robbed local people on Tuesday evening in a village seven miles from the Burma-China border gate in Muse Township, northern Shan State, according to local witnesses.

Using artillery, the Burma Battalion No. 99 from Pang Zai opened fire on Wan Kong Weng village in Maw Tong sub-township at about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, allegedly claiming that they were searching for Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) forces.

Witnesses reported that soldiers first fired into the surrounding forest and then began targeting residences. Over 10 houses were damaged or destroyed in the attack, but only one person was reported injured, as most residents were away for work.

“It was fortunate that no one was in the houses,” said a Kong Weng resident who witnessed the incident. “Now the house owners are very afraid to stay.” He added that some have left the area to instead stay with relatives elsewhere in Muse Township.

The same source added that a local woman, Nang Thi Thi Kyaing, who was driving by at the time of the attack, endured a gunshot to her right leg.

After the artillery fire, witnesses reported that Burma Army soldiers entered the village and looted local houses.

One local man, age 60, was at home when the troops came into his house. A soldier allegedly hit him with a gun and then took his savings from the residence: 50,500 Chinese yuan and 1.5 million kyats, an amount equivalent to almost $10,000.

Another household reportedly lost 1 million kyats worth of property and goods in the attack, or $800.

It has been reported that there was another clash at noon on the same day between the Burma Army troops and the TNLA in nearby Ton Karng village.

The TNLA Information Department also reported that there was further fighting between the Burma Army Battalion No. 77 and the TNLA Army Battalion No. 367 yesterday evening between Yae Pong and Marn Zawm villages, in Mongmit Township, in northern Shan State.

The TNLA army is one of the six ethnic armed groups which remain excluded from the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), the first formal step in Burma’s peace process. The NCA is slated to be signed during the first week of October.

By SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)