Fighting has not let up for days in the Tarmohnye area of northern Shan State.

A 19-year-old man was killed in fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in the Tarmohnye area of Kutkai Township, northern Shan State this week.

The clash occurred near Mongsi village at around 3:30 p.m. on August 13. The name of the victim was not released, but witnesses said he was shot while in hiding with his brother and the principal of Mongsi high school.

“He was shot in the head. The principal of Mongsi high school got shot in his ribs. He was transferred to Kutkai hospital,” local pastor Naw Seng told SHAN.

Burma Army soldiers buried the body of the young man near the road as clashes continued. Members of the local church and the man’s relatives exhumed the body on August 14 and carried out a cremation according to religious custom, Naw Seng said.  

Locals in the Tarmohnye area have said that it is difficult for them to travel to tend to their vegetable gardens and paddy fields because the fighting has not let up for days.

“Clashes occur between Tarmohnye and Kutkai as well as between Tarmohnye and Mongsi every day… We are so worried about security,” a local man who lives in Tarmohnye told SHAN.

A pastor from Maw Han village also in Tarmohnye reported that a 17-year-old boy was injured by shrapnel from a Burma Army shell on August 11.

The Burma Army and members of the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed groups, including the TNLA, have had multiple clashes in northern Shan State in recent weeks, despite a unilateral ceasefire declared by the military until the end of August.