A vegetable vendor waits for customers at a market in Lashio in Myanmar’s northern Shan State.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A Myanmar ethnic armed group clashed with junta troops for a second day in northern Shan state, residents and media said on June 26, with two civilians reported killed in the renewed fighting.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) on Tuesday launched dawn attacks on military positions in the town of Kyaukme, which sits on a vital trade route to China.

The attacks were the latest breach of a China-brokered ceasefire that ended weeks of fighting in Shan state between the military and the TNLA and two other allied ethnic armed groups.

The TNLA attacked a police station in Kyaukme on Wednesday morning, a local rescue worker said, asking for anonymity for security reasons.

“People who live in downtown do not dare to walk out of their homes,” they said.

Another rescue worker said two civilians were killed and two wounded by artillery shelling on Tuesday, without specifying from which side.

The TNLA said it had clashed with the military on Tuesday in Naungcho and Hsipaw townships and in the ruby mining hub of Mogok in neighbouring Mandalay region.

AFP was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment.

The TNLA is a member of the so-called “Brotherhood Alliance” along with the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

In a surprise October offensive the alliance seized swathes of territory and several lucrative trade crossings with China, dealing the junta its biggest blow since it seized power.

In January, China brokered a ceasefire that allowed the alliance to hold on to territory it had captured, but both sides have recently accused each other of breaking the truce.

Border trade with China in April and May was down by almost a third compared to the same period last year, junta-controlled media reported earlier this month.

On Wednesday, Beijing said it “consistently advocates for Myanmar to be able to restore a stable state and society as early as possible.”

“We are also willing to continue to provide any help and support we can to the progress of relevant peace talks,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

In November, the AA launched its own offensive in western Rakhine state, where it says it is fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine people.

It has seized territory along the borders with Bangladesh and India and vowed to capture state capital Sittwe, home to an India-backed deep sea port.

Myanmar’s borderlands are home to a plethora of ethnic armed groups, many of whom have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948 over autonomy and control of lucrative resources.

A Myanmar military air strike on a medical clinic wounded around 20 people in western Rakhine state, according to an ethnic armed group, a resident and local media on May 15.

Clashes have rocked Rakhine since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked security forces in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since a military junta’s coup in 2021.

AA fighters have seized territory, including along the border with India and Bangladesh, piling further pressure on the junta as it battles opponents elsewhere across the Southeast Asian country.

“I heard a very loud sound of jet fighters flying last night then I heard explosions around midnight,” a resident of Wea Gyi Htaunt village, near the town of Kyauktaw, told AFP.

“As soon as I knew it was an air strike, our family fled our house and hid in the woods,” she said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.

“I heard that tens of people who were outpatients, medical staff, and local villagers, got injured.”

At least 20 people, including outpatients, carers and staff were wounded in the attack that came shortly after midnight, the AA said on its Telegram account.

Five of those were seriously wounded and the clinic had been almost entirely destroyed, it said.

Local media also reported the strike and said 15 people had been wounded.

The resident said the AA had previously taken over the running of the clinic, located near Wea Gyi Htaunt.

The military had shelled the area repeatedly in recent days, she said.

Communication with Rakhine is extremely difficult, with most mobile networks down.

AFP has asked the junta for comment.

The AA is one of several armed ethnic minority groups in Myanmar’s border regions, many of whom have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948 over autonomy and control of lucrative resources.

The AA claims to be fighting for more autonomy for the state’s ethnic Rakhine population.

Fighting had spread to 15 of Rakhine state’s 17 townships since the November outbreak, the UN’s human rights chief said last month.

Hundreds of people have been killed or wounded and more than 300,000 displaced, it said.

Clashes between the AA and the military in 2019 roiled the region and displaced around 200,000 people.

The military launched a crackdown on the Rohingya minority there in 2017 which is now the subject of a United Nations genocide court case.