Junta airstrikes on villages in southeast Myanmar destroyed a hospital and forced over 8,000 residents from their homes, leaving them in urgent need of aid, according to an insurgent administration opposing the military.
Junta forces on Monday extended their ceasefire until the end of May, citing the need to help restoration efforts following the country’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake. Military forces have launched hundreds of attacks across the country since then, killing more than 200 people.
Heavy artillery fired at the Bago region and Mon state border have left thousands in need of food, clothing and shelter, the Karen National Union, or KNU, said in a statement published on Wednesday.
In Mon state’s Kyaikto township on April 28, junta forces dropped a 300-pound bomb on Pyin Ka Toe Kone village, destroying a rubber plantation. On May 2, junta Infantry Battalion 207 and Artillery Battalion 310 encircled and fired heavy artillery at Yae Kyaw village, according to the KNU.
On May 4, the junta bombed Hpa Lan Taung village’s hospital twice, destroying it.
Multiple displaced groups have been unable to return home due to constant attacks, leaving an increasing number of people displaced, said Nai Aue Mon, a program director of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland, which promotes democracy and peace in Myanmar.
“The junta is attacking all the time with heavy artillery, a fighter jet and drones. The effect is that the number of people fleeing is increasing, gradually,” he said. “Before, the numbers were only about 700 or 800 displaced people. Then it became 2,000 and 3,000.”
Some residents have fled to areas controlled by ethnic insurgent groups along the border, while others went to nearby villages, he said. While these villages were largely unaffected in the past, recent clearance operations by junta troops targeting rebel groups have left them with no choice.
The KNU did not say whether the attacks had resulted in any casualties.
Radio Free Asia contacted junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for more information on the attacks, but he did not pick up the phone.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.
