Casualties reported after clashes between TNLA and RCSS/SSA
At least seven soldiers from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) are reported
to have been killed in fighting in northern
Shan State’s Kyaukme Township on Sunday.
Sai Hseng Murng, the spokesperson for the
RCSS/SSA, told SHAN on Monday that five TNLA soldiers were killed and another
nine were injured during the clashes.
The clashes, which began at about 8.45 am,
took place in Kankaw and KinKhai village tracts, in Kyaukme
Township. The clashes lasted for about four hours.
Sai Hseng Murng alleged that the TNLA troops
had first attacked the RCSS/SSA forces.
“They knew that our soldiers were in the
area and they attacked us,” he said. “Even though we asked to discuss this
issue, they never replied. They kept attacking us.”
The TNLA Information Department’s Facebook page featured an update on Sunday which
claimed that two RCSS soldiers had been killed. The TNLA update also
stated that another two RCSS soldiers were injured during the fighting.
In an interview with DVB that aired earlier
today, a spokesperson for the TNLA, Mai Aik Kyaw, repeated the group’s claim
that two RCSS soldiers had been killed during the clashes.
Sai Hseng Maung, the RCSS spokesperson
denied that this had happened. He said that his side did not in fact suffer any
casualties.
Fighting between the two armed groups first
broke out on November 27 last year. More than 4,000 civilians from
Kyaukme, Namhsan and Namkham townships have fled their homes since the clashes
began.
The RCSS/SSA was among
eight ethnic armed groups that signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)
with the government on October 15 last year. The TNLA did not sign the
agreement.
BY SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)
Tags: News, Politics
