Residents of villages in northern Shan State’s Hsipaw township are said to be living in fear after the Myanmar troops planted landmines along China’s oil and gas pipelines in the region, according to the Shan Human Rights Foundation.

The NGO reported that a village head had been summoned to a pumping station 15 kilometres west of Hsipaw and shown that it was now being guarded by soldiers from the 23rd Infantry Brigade and the 503 and 504 LIB. Troops informed the man that local woodlands had been mined to protect the pipeline from attacks from local resistance groups.

According to the NGO, one third of China’s pipeline, which runs from the border to the Rakhine coast, runs through Shan State, and is a crucial part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor that provides China with a back door to the Indian Ocean for supplies and trade.

According to reports, over the past week fighting is said to have broken out close to the location of the pumping station.

DVB notes that People’s Defence Force groups had attacked powerlines supplying the infamous Tagaung Taung nickel mine, a joint venture between Beijing and the junta, on the Sagaing-Mandalay border.