TNLA’s Political Wing Says Shan Group Disrupting Fight Against Myanmar Junta (original) (raw)

The political wing of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) on Monday accused the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) of intentionally disrupting the Operation 1027 military offensive being waged by an alliance of ethnic armies against the Myanmar junta in northern Shan State.

The SSPP’s armed wing is the Shan State Army (SSA), while the TNLA is the armed wing of the Palaung State Liberation Front (PSLF).

Along with allied resistance groups including Mandalay People’s Defense Force, the TNLA resumed Operation 1027 in several townships in northern Shan State and northern Mandalay Region on June 25 after the collapse of a China-brokered ceasefire. Since then it has seized over 30 junta bases including battalion HQs and taken control of towns including Kyaukme and Nawnghkio in northern Shan.

Last Friday morning, SSPP/SSA troops blocked and attacked TNLA soldiers visiting a frontline base near Noung Pain Village in Kyaukme Township, killing a TNLA staff officer (first class), two TNLA battalion commanders and three resistance comrades.

That afternoon, SSPP/SSA troops ambushed three TNLA troops who were transporting detained regime soldiers from a seized junta base to Kyaukme town. Captain Nay Oak, the TNLA commander in Hsipaw Township, and a junta detainee were killed and another TNLA soldier was injured.

The TNLA also alleged SSPP/SSA troops helped evacuate regime soldiers who were surrounded and blocked by TNLA and allied resistance groups in Kyaukme and Hsipaw townships during Operation 1027. The junta military also handed over some of its bases to the SSPP just as they were about to be seized by the TNLA and resistance allies, the TNLA said.

Before the resumption of Operation 1027, the tripartite Brotherhood Alliance, which includes the TNLA, met with SSPP leaders to discuss the possibility of them joining the fight against the regime, but the SSPP rejected the proposal of cooperation, the TNLA said.

The TNLA condemned the SSPP/SSA’s effort to disrupt the alliance’s offensive and called for an immediate end to it.

It also told local Shan media that SSPP troops had seized 25 weapons from the Kyaukme District People’s Defense Force, a resistance group allied with the TNLA, while detaining over 20 TNLA troops.

It also asked the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC)—a group of seven ethnic armed groups based in northern Myanmar led by the United Wa State Army (UWSA)—to mediate the conflict between it and the SSPP, the Ta’ang group said.

The FPNCC comprises the UWSA, TNLA, SSPP, Kachin Independence Army, National Democratic Alliance Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Arakan Army (AA). The AA is based in Rakhine State.

On Tuesday, The Irrawaddy contacted Colonel Sai Su, the secretary of the SSPP, and its spokesman Major Sai Hpone Han, but phones for both were switched off.

Since the military coup in February 2021, the SSPP has met with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing twice for sham “peace talks” that were boycotted by other major ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) for being insincere and lacking inclusivity.

After failing to achieve its political aims from the sham peace talks with the regime, the SSPP has frequently announced that it will join hands with those organizations and ethnic groups who want a federal union, and fight the regime.

However, it has yet to engage in any fighting against the regime.

The Brotherhood Alliance, which comprises the MNDAA, AA and TNLA, is currently engaged in intense fighting against regime forces and has been attempting to seize northern Shan State’s capital Lashio since last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the TNLA and its resistance allies are attacking the remaining junta bases in Nawnghkio, Hsipaw and Kyaukme townships, and the junta has responded with heavy airstrikes, the TNLA said.