By Kantarawaddy Times
A civilian was killed in junta airstrikes on two villages in western Hpruso Township. One man said two other people were injured in the attacks and four houses were destroyed in an area where no fighting was reported.
“After the Burma army launched the first airstrike many people were moved to safety. I think some people didn’t leave their village when the army launched the second attack this morning,” he told Kantarawaddy Times on Friday.
The man said the villagers had taken refuge in the jungle, but there was no fighting in the area, so they took their supplies back to their homes. When the first attack took place on Wednesday, they returned to their hideout.
This year the regime has stepped up airstrikes on villages in Karenni State where only civilians live, including Hpruso Township. According to Karenni Human Rights Group, over 200 houses were bombed or set on fire by regime soldiers in 2023. The military regime aerially bombed at least four medical facilities in Pekon and Demoso townships where fighting escalated between March and May.
A Mobye People’s Defence Force information officer said the regime was committing war crimes by deliberately targeting civilians: “They dropped bombs on hospitals and medical clinics even though there were no clashes in the area.”
More than half of the estimated 400,000 people living in the state have been displaced from their homes by the conflict.
