Clashes in northern Myanmar town enter second day

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) - A Myanmar ethnic armed group clashed with junta troops for a second day in northern Shan state, residents and media said on Wednesday, with two civilians reported killed in the renewed fighting.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) on Tuesday launched dawn attacks on military positions in the town of Kyaukme, which sits on a vital trade route to China. The attacks were the latest breach of a China-brokered ceasefire that ended weeks of fighting in Shan state between the military and the TNLA and two other allied ethnic armed groups.

The TNLA attacked a police station in Kyaukme on Wednesday morning, a local rescue worker told AFP, asking for anonymity for security reasons. "People who live in downtown do not dare to walk out of their homes," they said. Another rescue worker said two civilians were killed and two wounded by artillery shelling on Tuesday, without specifying from which side.

The TNLA said it had clashed with the military on Tuesday in Naungcho and Hsipaw townships and in the ruby mining hub of Mogok in neighbouring Mandalay region. AFP was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment. The TNLA is a member of the so-called "Brotherhood Alliance" along with the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

In a surprise October offensive the alliance seized swathes of territory and several lucrative trade crossings with China, dealing the junta its biggest blow since it seized power. In January, China brokered a ceasefire that allowed the alliance to hold on to territory it had captured, but both sides have recently accused each other of breaking the truce.

Border trade with China during April-May was down by almost a third compared to the same period last year, junta-controlled media reported earlier this month. In November the AA launched its own offensive in western Rakhine state, where it says it is fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine people.

It has seized territory along the borders with Bangladesh and India and vowed to capture state capital Sittwe, home to an India-backed deep sea port. Myanmar's borderlands are home to a plethora of ethnic armed groups, many of whom have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948 over autonomy and control of lucrative resources.