A devastating explosion has killed at least 55 people and wounded dozens more in a Myanmar village under insurgent control, with a source on the ground reporting 25 women and 30 men dead, NewsFirst reported on Sunday, citing the BBC.
The blast struck on Sunday in Kaung Tat — a village in Namkham Township in Shan State, near the Chinese border — sending a large plume of smoke over the area shortly after the explosion. Other reports gave slightly different casualty figures.
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the ethnic armed group that controls the area and has been fighting Myanmar’s ruling military junta, said in a statement quoted by news agency AFP that explosives used in local mining and quarrying operations had detonated. The TNLA described the incident as an “accidental explosion” that occurred around 12:00 local time (05:30 GMT).
The toll places Kaung Tat among the deadliest single civilian incidents in Myanmar’s intensifying civil conflict, which has escalated sharply since the February 2021 military coup. Ethnic resistance armies and the parallel National Unity Government’s People’s Defence Force have made significant territorial gains against the junta across several states, while air strikes and artillery shelling have repeatedly hit civilian areas. Independent verification in conflict zones such as Namkham remains constrained by communications blackouts and access restrictions.
Myanmar has been the subject of Sri Lankan policy attention this year for its role as a base for transnational online scam networks that have ensnared dozens of Sri Lankans, several of whom have been rescued from compounds along the Thai-Myanmar border and repatriated to Colombo.
Sources: Huge blast kills dozens in rebel-held village in Myanmar — NewsFirst.
