YANGON: Myanmar ethnic armed groups seized a handful of outposts on Saturday as they pressed their offensive against the junta in the north of the country, local media reports said.

Fighting has ramped up across vast swaths of Shan state near the Chinese border this week, forcing more than 23,000 people from their homes, according to the UN.

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Libera­tion Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army (AA) say they have captured dozens of outposts and four towns and blocked vital trade routes to China.

Local media reports said TNLA fighters on Saturday seized two outposts controlled by pro-military militia near Lashio, the largest town in northern Shan state and home to the military’s northeastern command. The TNLA also flagged gains about four hours away at Namhkam.

“We seized four outposts in total this morning, two outposts from Lashio while the other two were from Namhkam,” a TNLA member said. The MNDAA said it had seized three military outposts further to the east.

The junta has not commented on Saturday’s clashes but on Thursday a spokesman dismissed as “propaganda” claims that the allied ethnic armed groups had captured several towns in Shan state.

The junta said the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), another ethnic armed group based in neighbouring Kachin state, had joined the attacks on its forces, and that it would retaliate. Local media reported the junta had shelled the remote town of Laiza on the Chinese border, home to the KIA’s headquarters. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing this week vowed the military “will launch counter-attacks” against the groups.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023