Myanmar ethnic armed group says 11 civilians killed in junta air strikes

Myanmar military air strikes in northern Shan state killed 11 civilians and wounded 11 more, a spokeswoman for an ethnic minority armed group battling the junta told AFP.

"They (the military) bombed at two areas in Namhkam" town on Friday around 1 am local time (1830 GMT), Lway Yay Oo of the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) said.

Namhkam is around 5 kilometres (3 miles) from the border with China's Yunnan province, with TNLA fighters claiming control of the town following weeks of fighting last year.

Images on social media showed people sifting through rubble and carrying a young person who appeared to be wounded.

One video showed several destroyed buildings. AFP reporters geolocated that video to a site in Namhkam and said it had not appeared online before.

Ongoing conflict

Since last year the military has lost swaths of territory near the border with China in northern Shan state to an alliance of armed ethnic minority groups and "People's Defence Forces" battling to overturn its coup.

The groups have seized a regional military command and taken control of lucrative border trade crossings, prompting rare public criticism by military supporters of the junta's top leadership.

Earlier this week junta chief Min Aung Hlaing warned civilians in territory held by ethnic minority armed groups to prepare for military counterattacks, state media reported.

The junta also announced this week that it had declared the TNLA a "terrorist" organisation.

Those found supporting or contacting the TNLA and two other ethnic minority armed groups, the Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), can now face legal action.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi's government in 2021 and launched a crackdown that sparked an armed uprising.

Conflict since the coup has forced more than 2.7 million people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.