Myanmar insurgents launched mortar bombs at the junta’s top leader during his visit to a military base in eastern Myanmar’s Kayah state, an official from the anti-junta group told Radio Free Asia on Thursday.
RFA could not independently verify the report of an attack on Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday as he visited Loikaw’s Regional Command Headquarters in the state capital, Loikaw.
The junta has not released any information on an attack but its media reported on Thursday that Min Aung Hlaing had discussed the security situation and an upcoming census during his visit.
RFA telephoned Kayah state’s junta spokesperson Zarni Maung for confirmation but he did not answer calls.
A spokesman for the ethnic minority Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, or KNDF, said its fighters launched two 120 mm mortar bombs at the military base when the junta chief was believed to have been visiting.
“We received the information that he was coming to Loikaw, so we ordered our heavy weapons team to get ready and fire,” said the spokesman, who declined to be identified for security reasons.
“We heard that personnel in the Regional Command Headquarters were injured but we don’t know exactly how many yet.”
Karenni guerrillas and junta forces have been confronting each other in a divided Loikaw for months this year, with the military regaining ground there since June.
Juna forces responded to the attack with sustained attacks, including airstrikes, on KNDF positions on Thursday, the rebel spokesman said.
The junta leader also delivered provisions to nearby junta militias in Shan state's Hsihseng township, 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Loikaw, where they frequently clash with anti-junta forces, media reported.
The KNDF says it has captured 65 junta camps, including 12 military bases near Loikaw, and eight towns since it launched an offensive late last year.
The junta also launched airstrikes in other parts of Kayah state on Thursday, including Nan Mei Khon village in Demoso township where one person was killed and buildings were damaged, said the deputy secretary of the state’s anti-junta Interim Executive Council, Banya Khun Aung.
“The military bombed two places at around 10 a.m. killing one person and injuring seven,” he said.
A Demoso resident who declined to be identified for safety reasons said the victims were policemen working for a rebel-backed department. Their police station was damaged.
More than 500 civilians have died in junta custody or been killed in shelling and airstrikes in Kayah state since the military seized power in a coup in 2021, rights group the Progressive Karenni People Force said in a statement on Sunday.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.