Armed attacks escalate in Myanmar northern Shan state

Three combined armed groups continued to launch attack on Kutkai, a town in Myanmar’s northern Shan state, with heavy weapons on Sunday but retreated with heavy losses as the government forces repulsed them, according to a news release of the Defense Services on Monday.

The attack involved about 150 members of the three Northern Alliance armed groups — the Arakan Army (AA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Kokang’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) which approached Kutkai from three places from the south-west to fire heavy weapons on the town.

On Saturday evening, the armed groups had blown up one more reinforced concrete bridge at the entrance of Nartee village on Lashio-Hsenwi-Kunlong highway, damaging the bridge and cutting off the transport.