Six days of fighting between the regime and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) have destroyed almost all the houses in a frontline village in Namhsan Township, northern Shan State.
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“Residents have fled Koong Sar after regime shells struck the village, totaling homes and the Buddhist monastery,” a source fearing for her life told SHAN on condition of anonymity
Regime fighter jets, airships, and ground troops attacked TNLA forces entrenched in the mountainous area between 7 and 12 December. More than 50 of the 60 houses in Koong Sar were completely destroyed, while the rest came under partial fire.
TNLA spokesperson Lt-Col Tar Aik Kyaw told SHAN he’s aware of the massive damages in Koong Sar. At present, they have no “detailed plan for reconstruction”, he said, although they have done so for other villages devastated by the conflict in the past. Responding to rumours that at least 30 TNLA soldiers were also killed in the clashes, the spokesperson confirmed that there were fatalities on both sides but he couldn’t say how many.
According to an anonymous source close to the armed group, the Ta’ang soldiers found the bodies of 47 regime soldiers and captured 24 alive during a sweep of the battlefield near Koong Sar on 13 December. Junta soldiers stationed at the Koong Sar Buddhist monastery were fired upon by their comrades, the man told SHAN, adding that the airstrikes also damaged at least 7 houses in the village.
Villagers from Hu Mang and Peing Loung villages are among over 1,000 displaced by the regime’s offensive and have fled to Namhsan town and other villages. At least 10 children and 30 elderly people who fled are currently missing and believed to be missing in the jungle.
