Locals were injured and junta soldiers killed when fighting broke out between the Myanmar army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State’s Namkham Township on Wednesday, according to local sources.
The fighting occurred one day after two tax collectors, believed to be from the ethnic Ta’ang force, were reportedly shot dead by unidentified gunmen as they were leaving the Namkham town market.
“They came to collect taxes in the market and got shot upon their exit. They died on the spot. People say they were from TNLA. I think the organisation is retaliating against the attack,” a local told Myanmar Now.
Another local man said that the battle was instigated by the military, which started firing artillery shells at TNLA troops travelling east towards Ho Nar village and the township hospital at around 10am on Wednesday.
Six locals from Nawng Hsant Kone village, all from the same family, were injured in the clash, he said. Among them were three children aged five and under.
“They live in a house that was near where the artillery shell fell,” the local explained.
Citing hospital staff, he said that three of the family members were severely injured in the blast but were in stable condition at the time of reporting.
Northern Shan State-based news agency Shwe Phee Myay identified the adult victims as Ywel Gyi, 66; Htu Hseng, 60; and Ma Tu, 32, and the children as Soot Rein Aung, 5; Mar Ywel Pan, 5; and Ja Hseng Sein, 2.
Shortly after firing the shells, Myanmar army soldiers arrived near Nawng Hsant Kone and Ho Nar and began exchanging fire with the TNLA from around 1pm until 3:30pm, when the Ta’ang forces reportedly retreated.
A TNLA representative told the Shwe Phee Myay news agency that the military fired more than 20 shells during the period of fighting. He claimed that four junta soldiers had been killed and four more injured, but locals estimated that there were five casualties.
Shops had reportedly closed in Namkham in response to the increased tension and the fighting on Wednesday, locals reported.
Myanmar Now tried to contact TNLA spokesperson Maj Tar Aik Kyaw to inquire about the battles and the assassination of the organisation’s tax collectors but all calls went unanswered.
The TNLA, along with the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed organisations of which it is a member, released a statement condemning Myanmar’s February 1 military coup. In June, the armed group also banned the sale of products made by military-owned companies in its territories.
Multiple ethnic armed organisations operate in Namkham, including the TNLA, the Kachin Independence Army, the Restoration Council of Shan State and the Shan State Progress Party.
In another northern Shan State township—the Mongko area of Muse—the military has been engaged in recent clashes against a TNLA ally, the ethnic Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.
