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‘Nowhere is safe’ – two children among six killed as junta bombs camps sheltering civilians in Karenni

January 17, 2022/in News

The two sisters were sleeping when shrapnel tore through the walls of their shelter Two children who were sisters were killed along with a man in his 50s when a junta attack helicopter bombed a camp for displaced people in Karenni State’s Hpruso Township on Tuesday morning, a volunteer there told Myanmar Now. The camp, […]

Soldiers kill and burn villagers during rampages throughout Myaing

January 17, 2022/in News

Some 800 junta troops in several columns are taking part in the onslaught, with local resistance groups saying they are unable to fight back Hundreds of junta soldiers have rampaged through villages in central Myanmar’s Myaing Township in recent days, killing and burning civilians, destroying homes, and forcing thousands to flee, locals and resistance fighters […]

‘Nowhere is safe’ – two children among six killed as junta bombs camps sheltering civilians in Karenni

January 17, 2022/in News

Soldiers kill and burn villagers during rampages throughout Myaing

January 17, 2022/in News

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‘Nowhere is safe’ – two children among six killed as junta bombs camps sheltering civilians in Karenni

January 17, 2022/in News

The two sisters were sleeping when shrapnel tore through the walls of their shelter

Two children who were sisters were killed along with a man in his 50s when a junta attack helicopter bombed a camp for displaced people in Karenni State’s Hpruso Township on Tuesday morning, a volunteer there told Myanmar Now.

The camp, which is near the village of Ree Khee Bu, holds some 700 people who fled a military massacre in the village of Moso last month.

The camp volunteer said the young victims were 12-year-old Caroline, who was also known as Khine, and 15-year-old Maria Corrette, who also went by the name Chaw Su.

A 51-year-old man named Andrea who was sleeping in the same shelter as the girls also died when a barrage of shrapnel tore through the walls, the volunteer said.

“The shrapnel hit the building where the girls were sleeping… their bodies were completely ripped apart and flew everywhere,” she said. “The man was sleeping near the fireplace as he was not feeling well. He got hit as well.”

Another two bombs exploded in a different area of the camp where buildings were under construction.

“There was no battle at all but the helicopter was hovering around for a long time last night,” the volunteer said. “We went out to check but we didn’t see anything. It was very loud.”

The bomb that killed the sisters and the man exploded about 120 feet from the camp and left a five–foot-deep crater, she added.

“I know they’re ruthless but why come after harmless displaced people? They only came here because they thought it would be safer,” she said.

Between 30 and 50 people from Moso village were massacred and burned by junta soldiers on December 24.

The Moso villagers have now fled the camp in the wake of the bombings, and are in need of blankets, warm clothes, and water.

“There’s no safe place in our state anymore,” the volunteer said. “We’re planning to arrange safe places for this many displaced villagers but we don’t know who would be able to sponsor us. We’re just trying to think positively at the moment.”

On Sunday three young men who were volunteering at a camp in Nan Mel Khone, Demoso Township, were killed when junta helicopters dropped bombs at around 6pm, according to the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, a local armed resistance group.

Military controlled newspapers on Monday published a claim by the junta that the military used artillery and air strikes in Karenni because of the presence of “terrorists” in the area.

The junta has not commented on the airstrike in Hpruso.

Aung San Myint, second secretary of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), whose armed wing is one of the groups fighting the junta’s forces in the state, called for foreign countries to enforce a “safe zone” in the area.

“We need to declare the area as a safe zone according to each civilian’s right to live and to the collective rights of the entire ethnicity,” he told Myanmar Now. “The international community can no longer regard what’s happening here as a civil war. They need to intercept as soon as possible,”

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A funeral service for three people killed by a junta airstrike on Tuesday (KFBR)

Over 200,000 people have been displaced in recent months in southern Shan and northern Karenni states.

There has been intense fighting in and around the Karenni capital Loikaw since January 7. The junta has attacked the town with fighter jets and cut off its water and electricity supply.

Myanmar Now News

Soldiers kill and burn villagers during rampages throughout Myaing

January 17, 2022/in News

Some 800 junta troops in several columns are taking part in the onslaught, with local resistance groups saying they are unable to fight back

Hundreds of junta soldiers have rampaged through villages in central Myanmar’s Myaing Township in recent days, killing and burning civilians, destroying homes, and forcing thousands to flee, locals and resistance fighters have said.

The entire populations of 15 villages in the northern part of the township have been displaced by the onslaught, which began last week on Monday, a People’s Defence Force (PDF) leader who goes by the name Cross told Myanmar Now.

And there have been more raids in other areas of Myaing, with a total of roughly 800 soldiers marching in separate columns through the Magway Region township in an effort to crush resistance to the dictatorship.

Locals found the remains of three people who had been burned after soldiers raided Latyetma village on Tuesday, Cross said.

“We can’t even tell if they’re male or female; only the bones are left,” he said. “We found them near the cemetery in the west of the village.”

The soldiers detained around 200 of the villagers but released them the following day. About five of the freed detainees had been beaten, Cross said, adding that the village was now deserted.

“The displaced villagers still don’t dare to come back,” he said.

Soldiers camped in the village until Friday and robbed and ransacked houses, he added.

“Some phone shops were also robbed,” he added. “They took packs of rice and a lot of houses were destroyed.”

A Myaing-based anti-junta guerilla group called Shwe Dar Bo said on Monday that the soldiers had stolen valuables, destroyed several houses and tortured residents who had taken shelter in monasteries.

There have been several clashes between local resistance fighters and junta forces in the south and west of Myaing in recent months. Last week was the first time junta troops have entered villages in the northwestern part of the township, the PDF leader said.

Soldiers stationed themselves in the village of Linkataw for two days from January 14 and destroyed two houses there, a local told Myanmar Now. One belonged to a member of the National League for Democracy and another to a teacher taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement, the local added.

“Some people were taken as guides when the column left,” they added.

The column headed south towards the villages of Kyikan and Taw on Sunday morning. On the same day, a separate column raided Paungte village, which is close to Latyetma.

In the west of the township on Sunday morning, soldiers raided the villages of Tha Dut, Nyaungbin Lay, and Wei Taung, said Cross.

“Tha Dut village was torched–25 houses in the western part of the village were destroyed in the fire,” he said on Sunday evening. “We still don’t know what exactly happened to the villagers. They’re still torching houses in Nyaungbin Lay village. The two villages are next to each other. We can still see the smoke coming out of the villages.”

He added: “They are torching the northern part of Wei Taung village. I heard they are even trying to burn the petrol plants.”

Chaung Sone village, which has a population of nearly 700 and is located in the north of Myaing, was also torched and robbed by soldiers, he said. “The entire region is displaced. We can’t start attacking them as their reckless firing of artillery shells could hit the shelters of the displaced locals.”

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A house in Latyetma village that was ransacked (Supplied)

Khun Chaint, a Myaing PDF officer who leads fighters in the south of the township, said the raids were aimed at flushing out PDF positions.

“They’re looking for PDF camps for the most part,” he said. “They’re firing artillery shells and abducting civilians and using them as human shields. So we can’t do much.”

Myanmar Now has been unable to gather details about casualties from the recent raids. Myaing is one of numerous townships in central and northern Myanmar where internet access was cut off last year.

The township is home to some 300 villages, and its residents have continued to stage protests against the junta almost a year after the coup and despite the military’s murderous crackdowns on expressions of defiance.

Myanmar Now News

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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