A Myanmar ethnic minority armed group was battling junta troops in a ruby and gem-mining hub, the group and residents told reporters yesterday, a day after Doctors Without Borders said it was halting medical activities in Rakhine state due to separate fighting.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) launched attacks on junta troops earlier this week in Mandalay region and Shan state, shattering a ceasefire brokered by China in January.
Its fighters were inside Mogok, a town surrounded by hills rich with rubies, sapphires, spinel, aquamarine and other semi-precious stones, TNLA General Tar Bhone Kyaw told reporters, without giving details.
Photo: AFP
Reporters were unable to reach a junta spokesperson for comment.
Mogok residents said that the town had been hit by artillery shelling and airstrikes by military planes since fighting in the area started on Tuesday.
“As far as I know, four people including two women were killed yesterday because of artillery shelling,” said a 57-year-old Mogok resident, who did not want to give his name.
He said he and his family were sheltering elsewhere after the roof of their home had been damaged in an airstrike.
“We have no experience like this. It’s the first ever serious fighting in Mogok town,” he said.
On Thursday, Doctors Without Borders said it would halt medical activities in Rakhine state due to an “extreme escalation of conflict.”
Clashes have rocked Rakhine since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked security forces in November last year, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since a military coup in 2021.
AA fighters have seized swathes of territory, piling further pressure on the junta as it battles opponents elsewhere in the country.
Doctors Without Borders was suspending “medical humanitarian activities” in northern Rakhine due to the “extreme escalation of conflict, indiscriminate violence, and severe restrictions on humanitarian access,” it said.
The suspension would affect 14 mobile clinics in the townships of Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw, it said.
Fighting had affected “regular healthcare services” by its teams in central and northern Rakhine since November last year, the charity said, adding that it faced difficulties moving medical and other supplies.
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