The Myanmar military on Thursday airlifted 28 foreign nationals from war-ravaged northern Shan state, while community-based organizations evacuated more than 160 villagers and migrant workers trapped in the conflict zone where ethnic armed groups have staged recent attacks and clashed with government troops, RFA reported.

The evacuations took place as China, which shares a border with Shan state and has influence with some of the ethnic armies, called on an alliance of the ethnic forces to halt the fighting it said was threatening regional stability.

Among the foreign nationals taken from Kutkai township to Yangon were nine U.S. citizens, one Canadian citizen, two Hong Kong nationals, two Chinese, and two Taiwanese.