The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) attacked a police station in downtown Lashio and sit-sat (Burma army) camp after fighting between the two groups escalated in northern Shan State over the weekend.

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“We heard the first gunshots around 3am. Over 80 Kokang army soldiers were in position at Kan Mueing Monastery and attacked Police Station No. 2,” said a woman who wished to remain anonymous. The fighting lasted about 30 minutes and she expected that due to the scale of the attack in Ward 12 there were causalities but didn’t have evidence.

Both sides employed light and heavy fire and the station’s door and brick wall were riddled with bullets, locals reported. The same night, MNDAA troops briefly attacked the sit-tat in a village in the suburbs of Lashio.

“Kokang troops entered Mang Ai from Kon Nyaung and fired two shells and at least 10 bullets at the Burma army before withdrawing from the area. Burma army troops then took up positions in civilian houses and around the village and fired on the retreating soldiers,” said a man who wished to remain anonymous. He explained that the attack was meant to distract the sit-tat making it easier for the MNDAA troops who attacked the police station in the downtown to escape.

A few days before the fighting escalated, representatives from MNDAA, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army met with the military regime’s National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee in eastern Shan State to discuss the removal of the armed groups from the list of unlawful associations and the release of their detained soldiers. An agreement was reached to continue meeting in the future.