Burma Army artillery rounds landed near the Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N) headquarters in Wan Hai, Kesi Township on 11 October, according to S.H.A.N. reporters on the ground in central Shan State.
The attack started two miles from the SSPP/SSA-N headquarters, when Burma Army Battalion 575 fired several artillery shells into the SSA-N’s Kong Mu Loi outpost located between Mong Hsu and Mong Nong Township. At the time of reporting, there were no known casualties.
An SSPP/SSA-N officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity said: “It was about 1:15 p.m. when the Burma Army shot into Kong Mu Loi, we could hear the sounds of the big weapons here.” [at SSA-N Headquarters]
The source also said that evidence had been collected indicating that the government forces had used 81 and 79 mm mortar shells in the attack.
About one hour earlier, on the same day, another clash occurred in Loi La Gan, south of Ta Sarm Bu, where S.H.A.N. reported the current series of clashes with SSPP/SSA-N began on 6 October.
A political party representative in Kesi Township said: “Because of the fighting, the local people are so afraid to stay at their houses. Some of them fled to Mong Hsu and Mong Nong to stay with their relatives.”
The tension between the Burma military and SSPP/SSA-N reportedly escalated after the SSPP/SSA-N refused to participate in the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) signing on 15 October in the capital Naypyidaw.
The SSPP/SSA-N also rejected the latest ceasefire talks between government peace negotiators and ethnic armed groups earlier this month in Yangon.
Just over a year ago, on 2 October 2014, the Burma Army launched an attack on Ta Hpar Sawng Village in Kesi Township that killed three people and displaced hundreds of others according to reports in The Irrawaddy and the Myanmar Peace Monitor.
In a 10 October statement the SSPP/SSA-N described the government attacks on Ta Hpar Sawng Village as “detrimental to the signing of the nationwide ceasefire agreement and trust-building in the political discussions.” But, the statement also showed that the time the SSP/SSA-N were still willing to be part of a nationwide ceasefire because it called for: "All Ethnic Nationalities and revolutionary armed groups, political parties, the Tatmadaw, parliament, statesmen [to] work together for the immediate signing of the nationwide ceasefire agreement.”
There are more than 20 non-state armed groups in Burma. The SSPP/SSA-N is one of the largest ethnic armed organizations that now refuses to sign the NCA. Some of the other groups refusing to sign the NCA are the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
By SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.)
Edited in English by Simma Francis for S.H.A.N. and Mark Inkey for BNI
