At least 13 people are killed as junta forces step up air strikes and mortar shelling in the southeast
People fleeing fighting between the military and the Karen National Union line up to receive food at a temporary camp for internally displaced people in Karen state, along the Thai-Myanmar border, on Dec. 25, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
At least 13 people including two children have been killed in Myanmar’s southeastern Karen state as the military has escalated air strikes and mortar shelling since June 24.
Junta forces have been increasing their assaults, firing artillery shells into villages, arresting and killing civilians and burning homes in the region, according to the International Karen Organization (IKO).
The IKO said a 25-year-old teacher and her one-year-old daughter were killed by the artillery shelling and 10 people from another village were arrested and killed by junta troops.
“Stopping supplies of aviation fuel must be a priority as ending air strikes is probably the single most effective action that can be taken to stop mass displacement and the humanitarian crisis being created by air strikes,” the IKO said.
At least two people were killed and three others wounded when a bomb dropped by a fighter jet missed its target and landed in a Karen village near the Thai border on July 1, according to Thai media.
Reports said the attack prompted at least 100 villagers to flee across the Moei River into Thailand.
“At least 200,000 people have already been displaced in Karen state alone”
Fierce fighting has erupted between the military and the combined forces of the Karen National Defense Organization and the Karen National Liberation Army after a military outpost near the Myawaddy township was attacked on June 26.
Furthermore, over 4,800 people from 16 villages in Nyaunglebin district, Bago division have fled into the jungle due to shelling, according to the Free Burma Rangers.
The humanitarian group said at least seven villagers have been wounded as the military has conducted regular shelling of villages with 60mm and 81mm mortars.
At least 200,000 people have already been displaced in Karen state alone and they are in desperate need of food, medicine and shelter amid the military’s blockade of humanitarian supplies, according to aid groups.
Karen communities around the world have called for sanctions against Myanmar companies involved in the supply of aviation fuel to the military and sanctions to stop international companies from being involved in any aspect of aviation supplies.
Relatively peaceful eastern Myanmar witnessed the first air strikes in 20 years on March 27, 2021, after an army post was overrun near the border in an incident that claimed 10 lives.
The ongoing conflict has displaced more than one million men, children and women including 760,000 people displaced since the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup, according to a United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report on June 29.
Predominantly Christian Karen state has seen more than 60 years of conflict between the military and the Karen National Union which has left over 100,000 refugees, mostly ethnic Karen, in camps along the Thai border.
The Karen account for about 5 million of Myanmar’s 54 million people and are the third largest ethnic group after the Bamar and Shan. The majority of Karen, also known as Kayin, are Theravada Buddhists while around 15 percent are Christians.
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