Fighting continues in Lashio after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) reportedly seized two-thirds of the northern Shan State capital.
Residents said junta shelling and airstrikes continued on Friday.
Lashio’s Northeastern Command headquarters was occupied on Thursday morning, the first junta command hub to fall to anti-regime forces since the 2021 coup.
The MNDAA and its allies since July 3 have seized around five junta battalion headquarters and other bases around the city.
Sources said junta troops have spread through Lashio in smaller units while the airport, Lashio Motel and university are controlled by the MNDAA.
U Han of a rescue team based in Lashio said: “Junta troops are spread through residential areas, endangering civilians.”
He said five male bodies were found near Mansu pagoda in western Lashio but rescue teams could not retrieve their bodies.
“They were killed by shelling but we cannot get close and cannot identify them,” U Han said.
The MNDAA urged residents not to panic and said business as usual would soon return while it urged its troops not to break the law.
It said its police would combat online scam gangs operating in Lashio and that a civilian administration would be established to fund residents to reconstruct their damaged houses.
A Lashio resident said: “The junta troops are like guerrillas, hiding behind buildings and houses and using civilian areas as shelters.”
The junta has yet not admitted that Lashio has fallen.
U Nay Myo Zin, a former army captain, posted on Facebook about the death of Brigadier General Tin Tun Aung, the deputy chief of the junta’s Northeastern Command, blaming his death on his refusal to surrender to the MNDAA.
Most Lashio residents have left the city, according to rescue groups.
A Shan civil society organization member said remaining civilians were increasingly at risk during the current street fighting.
A communications blackout was hampering rescue efforts, he added.
“We are very concerned for the safety and the humanitarian situation,” he said.
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