Pickup trucks carrying ethnic minority fighters rolled into a town in Myanmar’s northeastern Shan State that was recently liberated by military regime forces. This was another victory for the armed forces fighting to restore civilian rule after the coup in February 2021.

The convoy passed the golden tower of a Buddhist pagoda in Namhsan, but most eyes scanned the skies for the fighter jets the military uses to support its embattled ground forces.

The men jumped out of the vehicles and streamed on foot past locked wooden houses and through deserted streets that were quiet after days of fighting.

A volley of gunfire revealed a group of regime soldiers on the outskirts of the city and sent the fighters seeking shelter behind walls.

Located in the hills of northern Shan State, Namhsan is the latest town to fall into the hands of an alliance of ethnic armed groups and anti-coup fighters since it was shot down Operation 1027 End of October. The TNLA fights in alliance with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Arakan Army (AA) and various People’s Defense Forces (PDF), which were founded by civilians who wanted to fight the coup.

The TNLA announced on Saturday that it had captured Namhsan, days after China said it had mediated temporary ceasefire between the Myanmar military and armed groups.

En route to Namhsan, hours before the TNLA invaded, its spokesman Tar Aik Kyaw said his fighters were “taking the revolutionary path.”

“The main goal is to overthrow the military dictatorship, which is what the people of Myanmar always want.”

Nearby, against a blue sky, a group of fighters in camouflage fatigues and peaked caps with patches bearing the TNLA emblem unloaded boxes full of mortars for final inspection before heading into battle.

Desperate civilians

For almost three years, the PDFs across the country have been fighting to remove the generals.

But the offensive launched by the TNLA and its allies has galvanized the anti-coup movement and presented the generals with their biggest military challenge in decades as groups attack on multiple fronts.

There was evidence of heavy fighting throughout Namhsan.

One of the pagoda’s towers had been demolished, an unexploded rocket lay on the ground and a building was riddled with bullet holes.

Inside, a dark pool of blood stained the floor next to blankets and food wrappers, while in the next room there was more blood smeared on the walls.

Residents who have not yet fled Live in fear.

“We can’t go anywhere. There are caves to hide in, but they are far from our house,” said 50-year-old Ohmar, who asked to use a pseudonym for security reasons.

“My neighbors left this morning to hide in the caves, but on the way Grenades They ended up all around them and that’s how they came back here,” she said.

A man dug a hole in the side of a hill to build a rudimentary shelter – an action familiar to many across Myanmar after three years of conflict.

“I have already sent my family members to other places,” said resident Zaw Oo.

Ohmar, whose house walls were riddled with bullet holes, also dug a crude shelter that she said could hold up to 20 people.

“But it’s very tight and hot inside. If we don’t cover the entire entrance with sandbags, we will also be afraid of artillery shells,” she said.

“I’m so worried about my family.”