The “Red Shan” of northern Burma announced the formation of their armed group, the Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA), on social media last week, amidst calls for their own state in parliament.

Described as an independent organization “not under any other group,” the SNA claims to represent the Shan peoples of northern Burma. With a population estimated at 300,000, the Red Shan—translated to Shan-ni in Burmese and Tai-leng in Shan—largely live in southern Kachin State, particularly near Mohnyin and Bhamo, and in Sagaing Division.

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Sixteen loyalists of the (ISIS) group have been killed in newest air strikes in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan.

Two air strikes were conducted on ISIS positions in Abdulkhil and Bandar areas of Achin District leaving six militants killed, Afghan News Agency (Khaama) quoted officials as saying.

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Clashes between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army/Palaung State Liberation Front (TNLA/PSLF) and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South (RCSS/SSA-S) continued this morning as both sides accused one another of trespassing into the other’s territory.

Fighting between the two armed groups first broke out last year on November 27, just over one month after the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) on October 15 between the government and eight of the country’s more than 20 ethnic armed groups. RCSS/SSA-S was among the signatories, but the TNLA was excluded by the government from signing.

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Taliban gunmen stormed a university in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and triggering a heavy gunbattle with police and army troops who rushed to the scene in a town near the city of Peshawar, officials said. Later reports put the death toll at 30.

The brazen assault harked back to a December 2014 Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that killed more than 150 people, mostly children, and shocked the nation.

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A communist rebel was killed while five soldiers were wounded in two separate clashes Monday between the military and the New People’s Army (NPA) in Compostela Valley.

A press release from the military said the first encounter, which lasted for an hour and a half, occured at 10 a.m. at Sitio Mainit, Pagsabangan, New Bataan, and left one rebel dead.

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