Myanmar junta aircraft launched near simultaneous airstrikes on a town liberated by ethnic armed forces near the Chinese border and a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Shan State on Thursday night and early Friday, killing a total of around 20 civilians including children in the space of less than five hours.
The ethnic Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) said the junta’s military is brazenly committing war crimes by intentionally bombing civilian targets in towns liberated by the ethnic armed group in northern Shan State using heavy bombs.
The TNLA said a junta fighter jet dropped two 500-lb bombs on Namkham town near the Chinese border in northern Shan State at 1:35 a.m. on Friday, hitting civilian houses and a public hall.
The airstrike killed 11 civilians including two children and a pregnant woman and wounded 11 others. It also destroyed six houses, the TNLA said.
The TNLA liberated Namkham in late December last year during Phase 1 of Operation 1027, which was launched by the Brotherhood Alliance of three ethnic armies including the TNLA across northern Shan State last October.
On Tuesday night, a junta fighter jet bombed Mantong town, which is also under the control of the TNLA in northern Shan State, using two 500-lb bombs, destroying houses and a tealeaf processing factory building. A resident also suffered injuries.
The airstrikes targeting civilians in liberated towns came just a few days after the military junta branded the members of the Brotherhood Alliance as “terrorist groups” on Monday.
Late on Thursday night, a junta aircraft bombed a shelter for internally displaced people, named the Bangkok IDP Camp, west of Mobye town in Pekon Township, southern Shan State, killing eight IDPs including six children and injuring many others, said the Progressive Karenni People Force (PKPF), a Karenni activist group.
The targeted areas are under the control of Karenni resistance groups.
Over 600 people are sheltering at the IDP camp in over 160 tents.
One civilian has been missing since the aerial bombardment. The latest junta airstrike is seventh targeting the Bangkok IDP Camp, according to the PKPF.
The aerial attacks are part of a string of airstrikes launched by junta planes on civilian targets in southern Shan and nearby areas of neighboring Karenni (Kayah) State, as well as areas surrounding the Karenni capital Loikaw, since Karenni resistance groups targeted junta boss Min Aung Hlaing while he was visiting Loikaw on Wednesday.
On Thursday, junta aircraft bombed Nanmekhon town in the west of Loikaw, killing a resident and wounding eight others. The airstrike also destroyed infrastructure in the town, according to the Karenni State Interim Executive Council.
