Myanmar’s military airstrikes in northern Shan state resulted in the deaths of 11 civilians and injuries to 11 others, according to a spokeswoman from an ethnic minority armed group fighting the junta, who spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday.
The junta faces widespread armed resistance to its 2021 coup, with accusations of brutal assaults and the use of air and artillery strikes targeting civilian areas.
“They bombed two areas in Namhkam town on Friday around 1 a.m. local time (6:30 p.m. GMT),” Lway Yay Oo of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) said.
The strikes killed 11 and wounded 11, she said, adding that the office of a local political party had been damaged.
The deceased included five men, four women and two children, she said.
Namhkam is about five kilometers (three miles) from the border with China’s Yunnan province. TNLA fighters claimed control of the town following weeks of fighting last year.
Images on social media showed people sifting through rubble and carrying a young person who appeared to be wounded.
One video showed several destroyed buildings. AFP reporters geolocated that video to a site in Namhkam and said it had not appeared online before.
AFP was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment.
Since last year, the military has lost significant territory near the border with China in the northern Shan state to an alliance of armed ethnic minority groups and “People’s Defence Forces” fighting to overturn the coup.
The groups have seized a regional military command and taken control of lucrative border trade crossings, prompting rare public criticism from military supporters of the junta’s top leadership.
Earlier this week, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned civilians in territory held by ethnic minority armed groups to prepare for military counterattacks, state media reported.
The junta also announced this week that it has declared the TNLA a “terrorist” organization.
Those found supporting or contacting the TNLA and two other ethnic minority armed groups, the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), could now face legal action.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in 2021 and launched a crackdown that sparked an armed uprising.
Conflict since the coup has forced more than 2.7 million people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.
