Two civilians were killed and four injured on Wednesday afternoon when junta jets bombed villages in southeast Myanmar’s Kayah State.
Myanmar military jets bombed Dawkami and Silidon villages in Kayah’s Demoso Township, according to a statement from the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force.
Banya, the director of the Karenni Human Rights Group, told The Irrawaddy that this is not the first time that junta airstrikes have killed and injured civilians in villages and refugee camps. He accused the military regime of committing crimes against humanity.
“It feels like the junta is conducting ethnic cleansing by destroying whole towns and villages,” said Banya, who asked to be identified by only one of his names.
Dawkami and Silidon villages each have fewer than 100 households and each village is also sheltering around 100 refugees.
The two villages are about three miles from Nan Mei Khon, where fierce clashes between regime forces and resistance groups are taking place.
“The fighting is very intense today and the junta is using excessive force with heavy weapons, armored cars, artillery and airstrikes because many junta soldiers have been killed during the last eight days of fighting,” said Loikaw’s People’s Defense Force in a statement.
Fighting broke out again in Demoso on February 16 when two junta armored cars and over 1,000 regime soldiers entered Heigh Kwee Dam and War Yi Phu Pha Lai Village near the town of Moebye.
On January 17, junta jets bombed refugee camps in Shikibuu Village in Kayah’s Hpruso Township, killing two women and a man.
Over 170,000 people have been displaced by the fighting in Kayah State, with clashes taking place almost daily in Demoso and Pekon townships, according to the Karenni Human Rights Group, which is assisting the refugees.
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