On Monday, the military regime damaged scores of homes in Namkham after a jet fighter bombarded the town in northern Shan State with 500 lbs munitions.
A resident who declined to be named for fear of reprisals said a State Administration Council (SAC) jet fighter, as the regime calls itself, dropped two bombs at 7:30 on the western side of the Myoma Police Station where Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) were thought to be deployed. As residents of Pauk Nay Ward, where the evening attack happened, have already fled the area, no civilian fatalities are suspected, the man said. However, it’s unclear if the Ta’ang soldiers had a chance to escape before SAC’s bombing began, which destroyed at least ten homes in the area.
Fighting has rapidly escalated in Namkham Township after TNLA troops have been trying to seize the Sakhan Thit military base next to the town along the China border.
In Ho Ner in Kawng Kert village-tract, Ta’ang Women Organization reported that SAC killed five civilians, including a child and two women, during a midnight airstrike on December 7.
Since Three Brotherhood Alliance, of which the Ta’ang group is part, launched its 1027 Operation, named after the October 27 date that it started on, SAC air bombardments have killed 15 civilians, including 4 children and 6 women, in the township while 20 have been wounded and 200 homes destroyed. Over 6,000 people who have been displaced urgently need humanitarian relief.
At the end of November, a jet fighter destroyed more than 10 homes in Kawng Nawng after dumping 500 lb bombs on the village in Muse Township, which is north of Namkham Township, along the Chinese border.
SAC spokesperson Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun told the media that regime officials met with Three Brotherhood Alliance during recent talks negotiated by Chinese leaders in China.
