Blog Elements – Page 87

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

29 dead as blast hits camp of civilians on Myanmar-China border

October 10, 2023/in News

Dozens more were injured in what Kachin forces say was an airstrike near their HQ. Updated Oct. 10, 2023, 02:39 p.m. ET. Twenty-nine people were killed, including 11 children, when junta air forces dropped a bomb on a displaced persons camp in northern Kachin state, a Kachin Independence Army information officer told Radio Free Asia […]

Artillery strikes kill young child, displace entire village in Karenni State

October 10, 2023/in News

Residents have not returned home at the time of reporting out of fear for their safety, instead seeking shelter and holding a funeral for the victim in the forest near the village Heavy artillery shelling killed an eight-year-old and forced the residents of his village in western Hpruso Township, Karenni State to flee their homes […]

29 dead as blast hits camp of civilians on Myanmar-China border

October 10, 2023/in News

Artillery strikes kill young child, displace entire village in Karenni State

October 10, 2023/in News

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

29 dead as blast hits camp of civilians on Myanmar-China border

October 10, 2023/in News

Dozens more were injured in what Kachin forces say was an airstrike near their HQ.

Updated Oct. 10, 2023, 02:39 p.m. ET.

Twenty-nine people were killed, including 11 children, when junta air forces dropped a bomb on a displaced persons camp in northern Kachin state, a Kachin Independence Army information officer told Radio Free Asia Tuesday.

Col. Naw Bu said all of the victims were internally displaced people living near Lai Zar in the mountainous border area between Kachin state and China.

Lai Zar is the headquarters of the KIA, which has fought the Burmese military for decades and controls areas of northern Myanmar. Naw Bu claimed the junta was targeting the HQ in the attack, which happened around midnight local time on Monday.

There were 11 children among the dead, who were buried on Tuesday. The 57 injured people have been taken to a nearby hospital. Officials in Lai Zar are still searching for the missing and dead and the identities of those killed is still being investigated.

Bodies lined up at the Munglai Hkyet Internally Displaced Persons camp near the Kachin Independence Army’s headquarters in Lai Zar town, Kachin state after an airstrike on the night of Oct. 9, 2023. Credit: Awng Ja (Simsa Kasa Multimedia)

Naw Bu told RFA that this was not the junta’s usual style of attack. Although the military often fires at Lai Zar with heavy artillery from Burmese army camps at Bum Re Bum and Hka Ya Bum, he said that this bombing may have been carried out by a drone.

“It was not heavy artillery. Something like a plane or a drone. If it was by a jet, its sound could have been heard,” he told RFA, adding that he wasn’t sure yet what type of bomb had been dropped.

He suggested that the military “is threatening us … so that we join their peace talks” with other ethnic armies.

RFA was unable to independently verify what type of weaponry had been used in the attack.

‘There is nothing left for them’

A resident of Lai Zar who was providing assistance told RFA that the injured were still being transported to the hospital as of noon on Tuesday.

“I saw little children injured and breastfeeding infants left by mothers who’ve been killed,” said the resident who, like others interviewed by RFA for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal. “We need to provide assistance for these children.”

The resident said that in addition to the 57 injured, “there may be more who did not get to the hospital because the whole refugee camp was wiped out and blown away by the attack.”

Another resident who witnessed the attack said that many homes had been destroyed in the attack by what he described as “highly destructive bombs.”

“Those who live in the camp no longer have homes — there is nothing left for them,” the resident said. “The bomb left a lake-sized hole in the earth.”

He said the attack had also damaged a local church, a preschool building, and the village school.

“All the people at home when the bomb hit died on the spot,” he added.

Targeting civilians

Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun denied that the junta carried out the attack.

“Think about whether bombardment or artillery shelling near the border area at midnight is possible or not,” he told state-controlled media.

“We can attack any rebel headquarters but we don’t do it.”

The junta spokesman claimed only the KIA uses drones to drop bombs in the area, in order to attack junta troops.

The United Nations in Myanmar said it was “deeply concerned” by reports civilians, including women and children, were killed and injured.

“IDP [Internally Displaced Persons] camps are places of refuge, and civilians, no matter where they are, should never be a target,” the U.N. said on its Facebook page.

Tom Andrews, the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, told RFA in an interview that the incident at the camp is “one more brutal attack on innocent civilians” and “part of the massive campaign of violence against civilians by the military junta.”

He called the attack and others like it “probable war crimes.”

Jacob, the head of the group Kachin Human Rights Watch, told RFA that the attack was the latest attempt by the military to “wipe out ethnic groups” and that the junta “must take full responsibility for it.”

“Many civilians have been killed by these kinds of highly destructive weapons and airstrikes,” he said. “The junta is fully responsible for these attacks and must be held accountable.”

KIO under attack

The attack comes nearly a year after the military dropped four bombsinto a crowd in Hpakant as the Kachin Independence Organization celebrated its 62nd anniversary. At least 50 were killed and 100 were wounded in the airstrike.

The Kachin Independence Organization is the political wing of the KIA, which has stepped up its resistance since the Burmese military seized power of Myanmar in a coup against an elected government in February 2021.

The village where displaced people in Kachin state are sheltering is 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) from Lai Zar.

The border area was a site of heavy fighting in late June when junta forces attempted to capture Lai Zar using heavy artillery.

According to a U.N. report, as of late September Kachin state had over 93,000 internally displaced people. Waingmaw township, where Lai Zar is located, is home to over 20,000 of them living in some two dozen camps.

RFA News

Artillery strikes kill young child, displace entire village in Karenni State

October 10, 2023/in News

Residents have not returned home at the time of reporting out of fear for their safety, instead seeking shelter and holding a funeral for the victim in the forest near the village

Heavy artillery shelling killed an eight-year-old and forced the residents of his village in western Hpruso Township, Karenni State to flee their homes on Saturday, according to local sources.

The young boy, named Kyaw Naing Soe and also called Paraphe in the village, was playing inside his house when heavy shells landed in the village at around 1pm. Paraphe was hit by shrapnel when the shells exploded, and soon died of his injuries, his older sister said.

“The shrapnel went right through my brother’s belly and tore up his intestines. Another shell fell in another yard nearby,” Paraphe’s sister told Myanmar Now on Monday.

She added that there had not been recent fighting near the village, the name of which was withheld for security reasons, and that the shelling continued into the evening, forcing all residents from their homes.

“Everyone fled to the forest. We couldn’t even hold a wake for my brother at our house; we had to hold it in the forest,” the young woman said.

The child’s funeral took place on Sunday. Although no one else in the village was injured in the shelling, villagers staying in the forest were experiencing difficulties, according to Paraphe’s sister.

The 8-year-old victim Kyaw Naing Soe, also called Paraphe (KnHRG)

“It’s hard to find shelter in the forest. We’re in need of shelters,” she said.

Heavy artillery shells fell in another village in western Hpruso Township on Saturday and Sunday evenings, destroying a number of houses, according to a statement released by the Karenni Human Rights Group (KnHRG).

KnHRG believed the shells had been fired from Advanced Military Training Centre No. 14 based in Hpruso, but this was not independently confirmed.

The junta’s air force had also carried out an airstrike on a village in eastern Hpruso Township on October 4, destroying houses and schools.

It has been a month since fighting broke out at the border of Karenni State’s Hpruso and Bawlakhe townships, as the military launched assaults in an attempt to regain control of the area and secure a supply route to the town of Mese, Karenni State.

382 civilians have been killed in Karenni State between the February 2021 coup and late September of this year, of whom 142 died after being forced from their homes, according to information collected and published by the Progressive Karenni People’s Force.

Myanmar Now News

Spring Revolution

Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 8 to 14, 2024)September 20, 2024 - 2:30 pm
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 8 to 14, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Magway Region, Shan State, Kachin State, and Rakhine State from September 8th to 14th. Military Junta arrested the civilians as human shields from Mindon Township, Magway Region, and Salingyi Township, […]
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 1 to 7, 2024)September 13, 2024 - 5:08 pm
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 1 to 7, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Magway Region, and Shan State from September 1st to 7th. The Military Junta threatened that they would launch airstrikes on the townships which they lost. The […]
Human Rights Situation weekly update (Aug 22 to 31, 2024)September 7, 2024 - 4:09 pm
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Aug 22 to 31, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Magway Region, Bago Region, Mandalay Region, Tanintharyi Region, and Shan State from August 22nd to 31st. Head of Prison which works under Military Junta, tortured and blackmailed the […]

Multimedia

What is the Truth (Cartoon Animation)May 31, 2024 - 4:58 pm
What is Transitional Justice (Cartoon Animation)May 3, 2024 - 8:38 am
Close the SkyApril 11, 2024 - 7:45 am
Forced MarriageJanuary 9, 2024 - 2:12 pm

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.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

ND Burma

Recent Posts