Myanmar’s junta has reportedly increased airstrikes and shelling attacks on civilian targets amid continued pressure on numerous fronts.
The Brotherhood Alliance on Thursday said regime forces were close to collapse as more positions fell into rebel hands.
Shelling and airstrikes have been reported by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) of the alliance in Namhsan town, northern Shan State, since Sunday.
On Wednesday, a resident was shot dead by junta troops in the town and two others were killed this week by regime bombardments, said the TNLA. The armed group is fighting to seize the major Sakham Thit Kone base near the town.
On Sunday night, junta airstrikes targeted Namkham town, which is occupied by the TNLA, destroying at least 10 houses and injuring three residents.
On Wednesday, a junta airstrike targeted a village in Kutkai Township, destroying several houses and a monastic building and injuring a civilian.
On Sunday, a large junta base shelled homes near the 105-mile trade zone in Muse Township, killing a woman and injuring five other residents.
Since the launch of the Brotherhood Alliance’s Operation 1027 on October 27, around 126 civilians were killed and 204 others injured while around 400 homes have been destroyed across northern Shan State, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported on December 8.
The aid group said the ongoing conflict has displaced around 115,000 people across northern Shan.
The Brotherhood Alliance also reported junta attacks on civilians in northern Rakhine State since November 13, when Operation 1027 was widened.
A junta Mi-35 helicopter attacked the historic Mrauk U ruins in Rakhine State after a clash with Arakan Army troops outside the town, damaging some pagodas and religious buildings, the alliance said.
On Wednesday, junta forces fired on civilian motorboats and vessels at a Sittwe port and an estimated 53 civilians have been arrested at the port in the state capital, the alliance reported.
Villages in Ann and Sittwe townships were reportedly shelled on Wednesday, damaging houses and injuring a resident.
On Tuesday, regime gunboats shelled villages in Pauktaw Township near Sittwe, destroying two houses, according to the Brotherhood Alliance.
The UN agency reported on December 4 that 32 civilians had been killed and 96 injured by shelling and gunfire across Rakhine State and 130 people had been detained for allegedly unlawful associations.
Around 101,000 people have been displaced in the state by the recent fighting, the UN estimated.
The Karen National Union (KNU) also said the regime has escalated attacks on civilian targets in Bago Region and Mon and Karen states, killing civilians and displacing thousands more.
During the recent seizure of Mone town in Bago Region, junta aircraft attacked surrounding villages, displacing nearly 70,000 people from 85 villages, said the KNU.
On Wednesday, two children and a woman were killed by shelling in Tha Phan Kaing village, Madaya Township in Mandalay Region, residents told the media. No clashes had been reported in the area.
More than 578,000 people have been displaced since October 27 and around 363 killed and 461 injured across the country, according to UNOCHA.
