File Photo
Mizzima
Junta airstrikes, shelling and landmines killed seven villagers and injured twenty-three in Nawngkhio and Mong Mit townships, northern Shan State, between 15 April and 16 May 2024, according to a report by the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF).
Of those casualties, seven villagers were killed and 20 were injured in Nawngkhio Township and a further three were injured in Mong Mit Township.
Junta attacks during that period also displaced over 3,000 villagers from Nawngkhio and Pyin Oo Lwin townships, in northern Shan State. They also damaged about 100 houses.
On 14 April, the Mandalay People’s Defence Force (PDF) launched a rocket attack on the Defence Services Academy in Pyin Oo Lwin, where the State Administration Council (SAC) chairman, Min Aung Hlaing, was resting during the New Year festival. Fighting then spread to villages along the border between Pyin Oo Lwin and Nawngkhio townships.
On the morning of 15 April Mandalay PDF attacked junta forces stationed near Koong Mark Mong (Thayetgone) Village, in Nawngkhio Township, about 15 kilometers northeast of Pyin Oo Lwin. Junta shells also landed in Thayetgone, hitting a historical temple, which was burned to ashes, and damaging another three houses, according to SHRF.
The fighting spread to Jali, Pa Hup and other nearby villages in Nawngkhio Township. Junta troops then launched airstrikes and indiscriminately shelled the villages.
On the morning of 19 April the junta also launched an airstrike on Jali Village from two jet fighters. The bombing killed a 23-year-old man in the village and injured another man in his sixties from Sarmser (Samasay) Village, who was taken for medical treatment at Pyin Oo Lwin hospital, according to SHRF.
Later the same day, 19 April, at about 11:00 pm, even though there was no fighting in the area, two junta fighters bombed Ye Pone Village, about 35 km east of Mong Mit Town, damaging three houses and killing a cow.
The next day, 20 April, at around 10:00 am, a joint All Burma Students ’Democratic Front (ABSDF) and Kachin PDF force clashed with junta troops on the main road between Mong Mit and Thabeikkyin, causing traffic to be blocked. A shell fired by SAC troops hit an ambulance on the road, injuring a monk and two other civilians being transported from Mong Mit to Mandalay for medical treatment.
Also, on 20 April, junta artillery shells landed in Thayetgone Temple in Koong Mark Mong Village, killing a monk aged around 50. The next morning, a junta airstrike killed a woman aged about 30 in Thapyegone Village.
From 15 April to 5 May the junta continued launching airstrikes and artillery attacks from Pyin Oo Lwin Town into Thayetgone, Jali, Nyaung Gone and nearby villages, damaging about 60 houses in Nyaung Gone Village alone.
By early May the airstrikes had forced over 3,000 residents to flee their homes in 30 villages in Nawngkhio Township and nearby areas of Pyin Oo Lwin, Township including Thayetgone, Kamkaw, Jali, Pa Hup, Pang Kham, Na Paen, and Nyaung Gone villages. These displaced people are currently sheltering in temples in the villages of Bant Bwe, Inn Wai, and Nyaung Gone. Others are staying with relatives in nearby villages and those with no other options are hiding in the jungle.
On 9 May, at around 7:00 am, three male internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering at Bant Bwe temple went back to Jali Village to check on their sugar cane farms. Unfortunately, they stepped on a landmine that the junta had planted at the entrance to the village and had to go to Pyin Oo Lwin Hospital.
On 10 May, at around 8:00 pm, junta troops stationed at Oom Mark Dee Village indiscriminately fired an artillery shell into Thonze Village, even though there was no fighting in the area at the time. The shell damaged a house, killing a man and a woman aged around 30, and injuring four other villagers.
On 15 May at around 10:00 pm, junta troops stationed near Bant Bwe village fired three times into Thonze Village even though there was no fighting in the area. The shells landed in the village, injuring seven villagers and damaging about ten houses.
On 16 May, at around 9:00 pm, junta troops stationed at Taungtalone Village indiscriminately fired artillery into Pa Pub Village, killing a woman aged around 30 and a 16-year-old girl, and injuring another five villagers.
