Fresh fighting that erupted Wednesday between Myanmar forces and the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP)/Shan State Army-North and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan state’s Namtu township has displaced more than 200 villagers, RFA reported.

Government soldiers clashed with an alliance of troops from the SSPP and TNLA between the township’s Mong Mu and San Kha villages, villagers said.

Residents reported that a military helicopter fired in the area between the two villages and that gunfire from the Myanmar Army’s Namtu-based troops continued until noon.

Nearly 45,000 people have been temporarily displaced by fighting in 21 townships in northern Shan and neighbouring Kachin states since January 2018, according to an update issued this February by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).