At least 11 civilians have been killed in junta shelling and airstrikes since Operation 1027 began in northern Myanmar last Friday, according to rescue teams.
Five civilians were killed in Namphatkar town, Muse Township, two were killed in Kutkai Township and four died in Lashio, Kunlong, Kyaukme and Nawnghkio townships, according to volunteer groups.
Operation 1027 was launched across northern Shan State by the Brotherhood Alliance, which includes the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Arakan Army.
“A shell hit the Gorkhali Hindu temple in Kyauk Kyan village on Friday where a family lived,” said a member of the Gorkhali emergency rescue team in Nawnghkio.
It killed a 74-year-old Gorkhali priest while his wife and son were seriously injured, according to residents.
According to rescuers, at least 30 people have been injured and over 6,400 people fled their homes in northern Shan State since last Friday.
A junta airstrike on Tada U village, Kunlong Township, on Monday killed a resident and injured at least 19 others, according to the TNLA.
Around 3,000 displaced people arrived at Mansu Buddhist monastery in Lashio, although approximately 1,000 have now returned to their village, according to a monastery trustee.
An ethnically Ta’ang woman from Ma Chin Nu village said: “We want to return home as we left with nothing. We left our livestock but we fear more fighting.”
A 52-year-old Bamar father of six from Aung Thitsar said he did not feel safe to return home.
In Muse and Laukkai regime employees and servants are seeking shelter.
“The regime’s border staff in Muse are not going to work and many are seeking safe places. Some have left the border in secret,” said a Muse rescue team founder.
Kaung Tat village in Namkham Township was hit by junta shelling on Tuesday, damaging a house, according to residents.
Mobile communications have been disrupted and Lashio airport is closed.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Monday that more than 6,200 people had been displaced in northern Shan and several hundred have crossed the Chinese border. Humanitarian aid deliveries to Myanmar are already heavily restricted and overstretched among large numbers of displaced people.
