This UGC photograph taken and obtained from the Fb account of Mai So Jar on September 6, 2024 exhibits individuals gathering round a destroyed constructing following an air strike in Namhkham township in Myanmar’s northern Shan state. Myanmar army air strikes in northern Shan state killed 11 civilians and wounded 11 extra, a spokeswoman for an ethnic minority armed group battling the junta informed AFP on September 6.
| Picture Credit score: AFP

Myanmar army air strikes in northern Shan state killed 11 civilians and wounded 11 extra, a spokeswoman for an ethnic minority armed group battling the junta informed AFP on Friday (September 6, 2024).

The junta is battling widespread armed opposition to its 2021 coup and its troopers are accused of bloody rampages and utilizing air and artillery strikes to punish civilian communities.

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“They bombed at two areas in Namhkam” city on Friday round 1:00 am native time (1830 GMT), Lway Yay Oo of the Ta’ang Nationwide Liberation Military (TNLA) stated.

The strikes killed 11 and wounded 11, she stated, including that the workplace of a neighborhood political celebration had been broken.

The lifeless had been 5 males, 4 ladies and two kids, she stated.

Namhkam is round 5 kilometres (three miles) from the border with China’s Yunnan province, with TNLA fighters claiming management of the city following weeks of combating final yr.

Photos on social media confirmed individuals sifting via rubble and carrying a teenager who seemed to be wounded.

One video confirmed a number of destroyed buildings. AFP reporters geolocated that video to a website in Namhkam and stated it had not appeared on-line earlier than.

One resident stated she had seen 13 wounded individuals within the native hospital.

“I heard they’ll maintain funerals this night,” she informed AFP, asking for anonymity for safety causes.

The TNLA had warned residents of the hazard of additional airstrikes and stated individuals can be allowed to go away the city for security, she added.

AFP was unable to succeed in a junta spokesman for remark.

Since final yr the army has misplaced swaths of territory close to the border with China in northern Shan state to an alliance of armed ethnic minority teams and “Individuals’s Defence Forces” battling to overturn its coup.

The teams have seized a regional army command and brought management of profitable border commerce crossings, prompting uncommon public criticism by army supporters of the junta’s prime management.

Earlier this week junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned civilians in territory held by ethnic minority armed teams to organize for army counterattacks, state media reported.

The junta additionally introduced this week that it had declared the TNLA a “terrorist” organisation.

These discovered supporting or contacting the TNLA and two different ethnic minority armed teams, the Arakan Military (AA), Myanmar Nationwide Democratic Alliance Military (MNDAA), can now face authorized motion.

Myanmar has been in turmoil for the reason that army deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s authorities in 2021 and launched a crackdown that sparked an armed rebellion.

Battle for the reason that coup has compelled greater than 2.7 million individuals to flee their properties, in response to the United Nations.