Myanmar ethnic armed group says 11 killed in airstrike on teashop

According to a spokesman for a local ethnic armed group, a military bombing in the northern Shan state town of Naungcho on Tuesday afternoon destroyed a teashop in Myanmar, killing eleven people.

The attack, which occurred just before 3 p.m. (0830 GMT), coincides with the junta’s struggle against mass armed opposition to its 2021 coup and its soldiers, who are accused of going on violent rampages and punishing civilian populations with air and artillery strikes.

“They were civilians who came to drink tea and were sitting at the shop,” Lway Yay Oo, a spokesperson for the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) said.

At least four civilians were wounded and were receiving treatment in a hospital, she said.

Local media also reported that 11 people had died, but said many were injured in an army air attack on Lansan tea shop. 

The bombing marks the junta’s most significant breach in recent months of a ceasefire negotiated early this year and mediated by China.

Following months of violence that forced more than half a million people to flee their homes near China’s southern border, Beijing mediated a truce between the junta and the “Three Brotherhood Alliance” in January.

The alliance, which is composed of the Arakan Army (AA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and the TNLA, was able to maintain large areas of the northern Shan state that it had captured thanks to the ceasefire.

Since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration in 2021 and began a crackdown that led to an armed rebellion, Myanmar has been in disarray.

Last week junta chief Min Aung Hlaing met with China’s Premier Li Qiang in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming where he said that the military was ready for peace if armed groups would engage, according to Myanmar state media.

Even as other nations criticise the generals for their violent suppression of dissent, China has been a significant supplier of weapons to the junta and has given Myanmar political support.

Beijing, however, is worried about the mayhem that is occurring right outside its door.
Since last year, a coalition of armed ethnic minority groups and “People’s Defence Forces” fighting to overthrow the military’s coup have taken large areas of Shan State close to the Chinese border.

The militias have seized a regional military command and gained control of key border commerce crossings, sparking rare public criticism from military allies of the junta’s top leadership.