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Junta attacks on Thursday claimed four lives in northwest Myanmar, where tens of thousands displaced residents remain in desperate need of emergency aid, volunteers and locals told Radio Free Asia.
The offensives in the embattled Sagaing region have intensified since insurgent militias rose up against Myanmar’s military, which seized power in a 2021 coup, forcing tens of thousands from their homes and claiming thousands of lives through shootings, village burnings and bombings.
In the latest offence on Thursday, junta soldiers killed four residents in Sagaing’s Myaung town, leaving one injured.
“Today at 10 a.m., they were firing wildly with heavy weapons and circling the area with parachutes, looking for targets to drop bombs on,” said one resident on Thursday, declining to be named for security reasons.
Residents added they could not confirm the identities of the dead, but it was junta’s retaliatory move as junta forces clashed with a local militia a day before.
Sagaing region’s junta spokesperson Nyant Win Aung refused to comment.
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According to data compiled by RFA, 3,531 people have been killed by heavy weapons since the coup, and another 5,007 have been injured.
As conflict between militias and junta troops escalates, tens of thousands have fled to safer areas, but they are desperately in need of supplies to survive and cope with water-borne illnesses.
More than 30,000 internally displaced people have been sheltering in Sagaing region’s Kale township, roughly 210 kilometers [130 miles] northwest of Myaung Township, since early February, and according to aid workers, they are facing “new challenges” with the hot season approaching.
“It’s the time when the weather gets really hot, so we’re helping as much as we can with shelter, access to water and food,” said one aid worker, who declined to be named for security reasons. “Mainly, people need medicine, shelter and drinking water.”
A lack of water sources has forced displaced people from nearly 30 villages to make due with unclean water, leading to skin diseases and diarrhea, he added.
Junta forces are frequently bombing villages around the township, preventing them from returning home.
On Jan. 31, for instance, junta forces bombed the Koke Ko Su Camp, a shelter for displaced people in Kale township, killing 11 people, including pregnant women, and injuring 15, according to residents.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang.