A Myanmar insurgent army and its allies have freed political prisoners and taken control of a hospital and several police stations in the strategic northern Shan state city of Lashio, where fighting with junta forces has been ongoing for more than a month.
Last week, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, announced it had captured the junta's northeastern regional military headquarters in Lashio, although the junta has denied the claim.
Fighting in neighborhoods near the regional headquarters continued over the weekend, several residents who requested anonymity for safety reasons told Radio Free Asia.
The MNDAA announced on Sunday that it had also seized a market, a sub-broadcast station and three junta battalion camps in Lashio, which is located about halfway along the main road linking the city of Mandalay and the Chinese border.
One of the junta camps was located near Lashio prison, where insurgent fighters have opened the gates, several sources said.
Some 200 political prisoners walked free over the weekend, including Tun Tun Hein, a member of the Central Executive Committee for the National League for Democracy party, which was overthrown by the military in a 2021 coup d'etat.
“Local resistance forces are working together to help with the prisoners,” said Maung Maung Swe, the deputy secretary for the shadow National Unity Government’s Ministry of Defense.
“Some have been injured by shrapnel from landmines during the prison break, and we are also providing health care for them,” he said.
A family member of Tun Tun Hein told RFA that there were few details about the prisoners due to telecommunications blackouts.
RFA’s attempts to contact the MNDAA’s spokesperson to ask about the prison were unsuccessful on Monday. Junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun was also unavailable.
Wa troops in Lashio
On Saturday, the United Wa State Army, or UWSA, entered Lashio and took positions near its liaison office and some of its property.
The UWSA – Myanmar’s largest ethnic army – waited until MNDAA forces controlled most of the city before going into Lashio, according to UWSA liaison officer Nyi Rang.
“We officially informed both sides in advance about our entry,” he said. “Our Wa army will not intervene or side with any armed groups. We also hope for nationwide peace, including in Lashio, as soon as possible.”
The UWSA vowed in November to remain neutral as the Three Brotherhood Alliance began a large-scale operation against junta forces.
The alliance – made up of the MNDAA, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army – has made significant gains against junta forces in Shan state and elsewhere in Myanmar since last October, when it launched Operation 1027. It resumed offensive operations in June following a ceasefire.
Zaw Min Tun told local news media that the junta was aware of the UWSA’s presence in Lashio.
Fighting since late June has forced more than 200,000 Lashio residents to flee their homes, according to aid workers. More than 10,000 people remain in the city.
A junta airstrike on Sunday morning killed five people who had taken refuge near a monastery in Lashio, an aid worker told RFA.
Elsewhere in the city, a 25-year-old woman was killed by shrapnel from a landmine that struck the back of her head, the aid worker said
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed.