Blast in Wa capital

Reporter: Hawkeye
A bomb went off in the business sector of Panghsang on the Chinese border at 01:00 on Tuesday, 12 July, according to a Shan source from northern Shan State.

The blast took place in front of the one and only casino opposite Panghsang’s market. “It made quite a terrible racket,” said the businessman from Panghsang, “but nobody was hurt as the street was totally deserted. There was some excitement at first, but as nothing more happened, the gamblers went back to their gaming tables.”

So far the culprits have yet to be found.

Like its southern neighbor Mongla, there have been few regulars from across the border, since Beijing imposed restrictions on its citizens early in the year. Most patrons of the casino, owned jointly by an ethnic Chinese from Lashio and his partner from China, are locals.

But unlike Mongla, where the whole city has gone dark except for places with their own generators following power shutdowns from China, Panghsang has a hydro-power plant just outside the city limits and has therefore excaped similar predicament.

Also unlike Mongla, the United Wa State Army, together with the Burma Army has been fighting against the anti-Rangoon Shan State Army ‘South’ of Col Yawdserk. The joint junta-Wa operation in March-April had cost the Wa more than 300 killed by its own count. (The SSA had put the figure at 337)

“It is a very unpopular war among us Wa,” one Wa officer had explained to his Shan friend in Mongton. “All of us know the ultimate winner can only be the Burmese military.”
Conflicting reports as to the Wa moves have continued to bombard S.H.A.N, none of which indicates that another full-scale fighting is in the offing. The 2,500 fresh troops to replace the battle weary Wa fighters at the SSA’s Loi Taileng stronghold, promised since May have yet to arrive, while 11 officers and commanders, who went on leave during the April engagements, are being urgently recalled by the UWSA’s Thai border-based 171st Regional Command of Wei Hsuehkang.

The SSA meanwhile reports normal activities of the Wa confronting them at Loi Taileng, opposite Pang Mapha District, Maehongson Province.