{"id":372869,"date":"2025-08-25T17:38:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T17:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/372869\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T17:38:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T17:38:16","slug":"historic-myanmar-bridge-destroyed-in-fighting-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/372869\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic Myanmar bridge destroyed in fighting | Myanmar"},"content":{"rendered":"

A colonial-era bridge in Myanmar<\/a> that was once the world\u2019s tallest railway trestle has been destroyed during fighting in the years-long conflict.<\/p>\n

A civil war<\/a> has consumed Myanmar since a 2021 coup deposed the civilian government, with the military battling myriad pro-democracy guerrilla groups and ethnic armed organisations.<\/p>\n

Representatives from the ruling military junta and anti-coup armed groups have blamed each other for the destruction of the landmark Gokteik bridge on Sunday.<\/p>\n

In a video statement, junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun claimed rebel factions, including the Ta\u2019ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and people\u2019s defence forces groups had \u201cbombed and destroyed\u201d the bridge. A separate statement by the junta said the bridge had been \u201cexploded with mines\u201d.<\/p>\n

Map<\/a><\/p>\n

A TNLA spokesperson rejected this and accused the junta of bombing the bridge. \u201c[The] Myanmar army tried to bomb our bases … this morning by using drones. They bombed our troops, but their bomb also hit Gokteik bridge,\u201d TNLA spokesperson Lway Yay Oo said.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, clashes have erupted between junta forces and TNLA fighters in the nearby towns of Nawnghkio and Kyaukme \u2013 though the junta claimed to have recaptured Nawnghkio in July.<\/p>\n

The Gokteik viaduct, a 300-meter long bridge. Photograph: Thierry Falise\/LightRocket via Getty Images Photograph: Thierry Falise\/LightRocket\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Spanning 300 metres and standing 102 metres above a gorge, the structure is the highest bridge in Myanmar and was the tallest railway trestle in the world when it opened in 1901 during the British colonial era.<\/p>\n

Videos and photos on social media showed the bridge partly collapsed and damaged.<\/p>\n

The bridge is situated at the border of the Nawnghkio and Kyaukme townships in northern Shan State. It is part of the Mandalay-Lashio railway line and draws a number of tourists.<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u2019s junta is preparing for a December election<\/a> that is being boycotted by opposition groups and criticised<\/a> by international monitors.<\/p>\n

Analysts have predicted rebels will stage offensives around the election as a sign of their opposition.<\/p>\n

With Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A colonial-era bridge in Myanmar that was once the world\u2019s tallest railway trestle has been destroyed during fighting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-372869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115090627318134560","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}