By Kantarawaddy Times
Tatmadaw is randomly attacking civilians and shelling their homes as fighting with a civilian resistance group enters its second week in Karenni and Shan states.
Burma Army shot and killed a man who stopped at an intersection in Loikaw town at 1pm Friday, June 4. An eyewitness told Kantarawaddy Times the man in his thirties didn’t seem to notice that soldiers were shooting at him when driving past. When he stopped, they shot him in the head and stomach. “There was blood all over the street,” the source explained.
Soldiers shot at two youths, killing one of them, on a road in Pekon Township, southern Shan State. The youths were travelling near Mobyel when the soldiers opened fire on them on June 2. One of the youths who was injured during the attack managed to escape. The following morning, locals recovered the body of the other youth.
Fighting between Burma Army and the People’s Defense Force (PDF) erupted in Karenni and southern Shan states last month. All the PDF chapters in the state merged with Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF).
Tatmadaw soldiers shot and injured a man bringing food to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mobyel on June 2. There were several homes damaged during the attack. A KNDF member warned people who are carrying food to IDPs in Mobyel to inquire how to avoid the military and police checkpoints, as well as the military camp. The military set up a camp next to the police station in town.
Burma Army killed a KNDF member and injured several villagers during fighting near Sanpya 6-mile village in Demawso Township on the morning of June 3. In the evening, the Burma Army shelled Sanpya 6-mile and Aung Thabyay.
A villager from Aung Thabyay who saw three homes in flames said soldiers shot at them when they fled, but they escaped unscathed. Residents are too afraid to return to their village to access the damage to homes. Several homes in Sanpya 6-mile were also destroyed during the attack. Since Wednesday evening, soldiers have been deployed around Sanpya 6-mile shooting at anyone on the road.
Fighting in the state has displaced about 100,000 villagers at the start of the cultivation period. Villagers should be planting rice but are fleeing violence that has been breaking out every day during the rainy season. “We face many difficulties. We don’t have rice, yet we can’t grow it in our farms so we have nothing to eat,” an IDP told Kantarawaddy Times.
The conflict has also driven up the costs of food and fuel. A farmer told Kantarawaddy Times he can’t afford to buy diesel for their farm vehicles and there is no fertilizer for sale in town.
