A junta fighter jet repeatedly strafed a village in Myanmar’s Kayah state, killing an 11-year-old boy and injuring two more locals, local People's Defense Force Officials told RFA Wednesday.
The plane attacked Kyauk Su village three times on Tuesday night, said an information officer of Hpasawng township People’s Defense Force who did not want to be named for security reasons.
“A jet fighter came and bombed at night,” the official said.
“The injured are not seriously hurt. A Christian church and around six homes were also destroyed.”
On Wednesday a jet attacked the Daw Noe Khu displaced people’s camp on the Thai-Myanmar border, killing a 32-year-old man and injuring two women.
More than 4,000 people were sheltering at the camp, according to Karenni Progressive Party Joint Secretary, Aung San Myint.
“The jets came around 1:00 a.m. and dropped bombs four times,” he said, adding that a school was destroyed by the bombing and a medical clinic and some houses were damaged.
People's Defense Force officials said that the junta is launching an offensive from Hpasawng township in order to fully control Mese township and is sending its forces to the region by air.
Hpasawng People’s Defense Force said the army has had no opportunity to launch ground offensives so it relies on airstrikes and heavy artillery to attack civilian targets.
The junta has not released a statement on the attacks.
RFA called junta spokesperson for Kayah state Aung Win Oo by phone, but nobody answered.
On July 4, three civilians, including a two-year-old child were injured when the air force bombed a displaced people’s camp in the western part of Demoso. The founder of the Karenni Human Rights Group, Ba Nyar, said that the attack was a war crime.
The junta has carried out 527 airstrikes in Moebye (Moe Bye), Pekon and Pinlaung townships in southern Shan state and Kayah state since the February 2021 coup, according to the latest figures released by Progressive Karenni People’s Force.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.