One civilian was killed and five others were injured on 12 May 2025, in junta airstrikes on the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) controlled towns of Manton and Mongngawt in northern Shan State.
At around 10:30 pm on 12 May, a junta aircraft carried out two bombing runs on on Manton Town in Manton Township. A bomb hit a house in Aung Chan Thar Ward, killing a man and injuring five other people.
A Manton Town resident said: “A bomb directly hit a house in Aung Chan Thar [ward]. One person was killed, and about five others were injured. Around five or six houses were completely destroyed, making them uninhabitable.”
The airstrike damaged about 10 houses in Aung Chan Thar Ward. Of those, about six were completely destroyed and rendered uninhabitable.
Earlier on the same day, 12 May, at 7:30 pm, junta aircraft dropped four bombs on Mongngawt Town in Kyaukme Township. According to the TNLA, one of the bombs exploded near a school in Tarlone Ward.
These attacks happened despite the junta declaring a unilateral ceasefire to run from 6 to 31 May 2025. According to the TNLA, everyday since the beginning of its ceasefire on 6 May, the junta has carried out drone strikes, airstrikes, and artillery attacks on TNLA-controlled areas.
The Three Brotherhood Alliance, which includes the TNLA, announced its own month-long ceasefire from 1 to 31 May. At a press conference on 4 May a TNLA spokesperson, Lway Yay Oo, said that during the ceasefire period the TNLA would refrain from offensive operations but would monitor the junta’s movements and still respond in self-defence to any junta acts of aggression.
Representatives of the junta and TNLA met at Chinese brokered peace talks in the Chinese city of Kunming on 28 and 29 April 2025. But, the talks failed when the TNLA refused the junta’s demands for the TNLA to give up five towns it has captured, Naungcho (Nawnghkio), Kyaukme, Thibaw (Hsipaw) and Momeik in northern Shan State and Mogok in Mandalay Region. Shortly after the talks broke down the junta escalated its military operations against TNLA-controlled areas.
Previously, on 5 May, the junta also carried out airstrikes on Kunsalan Village, in Kyaukme Township, near Mongngawt Town, according to residents of the village.
