A nine-year-old boy was injured on Monday after an artillery shell fell in Nam Khur village in Namhsan Township during fighting between the Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

Grade 3 student Sai Thuza was hit by shrapnel in his village, three miles from Namhsan town, but his injury is not life-threatening, locals said. He is now in Namhsan hospital.

“It’s not dangerous. There is no need to worry… medics will take out the shrapnel today,” Aung Myint, who is assisting internally displaced people (IDPs) in Namhsan, told SHAN.

The Burma Army and TNLA have been fighting in Namhsan since September 13, with military tension remaining high.

Sixty-year-old Aik Tun was killed by shrapnel after a shell landed in his village in Namhsan on September 14.

Aung Myint said that a man and a woman were also recently wounded in Nam Twae village.

Namhsan Township now has more than 2,000 IDPs at multiple sites, including monasteries and villages.

“We have rice but they need other foodstuffs. The number of IDPs is increasing and they need many things,” Thein Shwe, chairperson of the Chan Myae Social Volunteer Team, told SHAN.

Those in particular need are the 150 people seeking refuge in Pang Siri village.

“We still cannot go to Pang Siri village. IDPs in Pang Siri haven’t gotten any assistance. I think they will mainly need rice and other foodstuffs,” Thein Shwe said.

Representatives of the Burma Army and the four members of the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed groups—which includes the TNLA—met in Kengtung in eastern Shan State on September 17.

Local civil society groups estimate that at least 15 civilians have been killed so far in fighting which intensified in northern Shan State on August 15, and 30 people have been injured.

Photo by – Kyar Thi U