Villagers flee to China after fighting erupts in Shan State

06 August 2020
Villagers flee to China after fighting erupts in Shan State
(File) Refugees fled from Kokang in Myanmar's Shan State walking into Nansan town in Zhenkang County in southwest China's Yunnan province, 25 August 2009. Photo: EPA

More than 100 villagers fled their homes in Myanmar’s northern Shan state into China as fighting broke out between ethnic the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA-S) and government forces, RFA reported.

A military spokesman said the clash, which wounded one civilian, began Tuesday when government troops seized three truckloads of illegally logged timber, though a spokesman for the RCSS/SSA-S said the army attacked them without provocation.

Tuesday’s fighting broke out in the Nantsan Gohtung village in northern Shan State’s Muse township, and was likely sparked when government troops attempted to arrest timber traffickers, a district administrator told RFA’s Myanmar Service on Wednesday.