[Tee tiong huat]

Myanmar armed group captures another town on China highway. 

YANGON – Fighters from a Myanmar ethnic armed group have seized another town along a strategic highway to China, the group and a resident said, in the latest setback for the embattled junta. Northern Shan state has been rocked with fighting since the summer, when an alliance of ethnic armed groups renewed an offensive against the military along the highway to China’s Yunnan province. The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) captured the last remaining military base in the town of Hsipaw on Oct 13 after weeks of fighting, a spokeswoman for the group told AFP on Oct 14.

“We took all army bases and there is no more Myanmar army in the town,” Ms Lway Yay Oo said.
Hsipaw is normally home to around 20,000 people and sits on a highway from Myanmar’s second city, Mandalay, to the China border, along which hundreds of millions of dollars of trade travels annually. A Hsipaw resident who did not want to be named told AFP on Oct 15 that TNLA fighters had taken control of the town on Oct 13.
“There is no more fighting in the town, but we are afraid of (military) air strikes as we do not know when they will come,” he said.

Locals currently allowed to enter & leave town but many yet to return, junta no comment on fighting in Hsipaw. AFP was unable to confirm as there no htth//net.com. TNLA’s Ms Lway Yay Oo said 100 soldiers from military had “disarmed” since TNLA launched attack in Aug, without specifying what happened to them. She did not give details on TNLA or military casualties. TNLA is a member of so-called 3-Brotherhood Alliance, includes Arakan Army (AA) & the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

In Oct 2023, alliance launched offensive across northern Shan state, seizing swathes of territory, dealing military a biggest blow since in power in 2021 coup. Beijing-brokered ceasefire only fail. Alliance resume attacks in Jun. In Aug, MNDAA seized town. Lashio, is about 60km on highway from Hsipaw, home to regional military HQ.
Lashio is largest urban ctr to fall to Myanmar’s myriad ethnic minority armed groups since the military first seized power in 1962. AFP.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asi...na-highway

Video view on Myanmar fight against junta.
https://youtu.be/m3IaNL5gGAk?si=PLjm7xhAip07d3XB