Junta fighter jets bombarded another camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kayah State’s Hpruso Township on Wednesday.
The number of IDPs in the township has risen to about 10,000, including those at the camp that was bombed and residents from four villages who have been displaced by ongoing fighting between junta troops and resistance forces, rights groups and local residents said.
A junta jet dropped bombs on the IDP camp near Hpu Ka Rar Khu Village as fighting erupted on the main road about three miles away on Wednesday.
A makeshift school and three dwellings in the camp were destroyed by the bombs dropped on the IDP camp, according to the Karenni Human Rights Group.
No casualties were reported, the rights group said.
“Schools in IDP camps are frequently destroyed by junta bombing and children lose their right to education,” said Ko Benya, the rights group’s spokesperson.
Residents and IDPs from at least four villages in eastern Hpruso Township were forced to flee their shelters due to the fighting caused by advances of junta infantry battalions in the area, the rights group said.
Nearly 1,000 displaced people from Whei Du Hler camp in Hpruso also faced the same fate.
“Most of the IDPs are unable to flee to safer areas due to a heavy downpour and lack of transportation,” Ko Benya said.
IDPs flee into nearby forest as artillery shelling and airstrikes by junta troops have made it almost impossible for them to access the main road, he added.
The Karenni National Defense Force (KNDF) reported on Friday that a woman was injured on Thursday by indiscriminate shelling by junta infantry on villages in western Hpruso Township on October 5.
IDP camps in the township face food shortages and a flu outbreak, the rights group said.
KNDF and its allied forces said fighting occurs daily on the main road between Hpruso and Bawlakhe townships in an attempt to thwart the arrival of junta convoys, carrying reinforcements, rations and heavy weapons.
Junta infantry battalions have been heading towards the two townships since the beginning of September, the armed group stated.
The United Nations estimated that more than 100,000 people were displaced in Kayah State as of September 25, 2023.
However, local aid groups put the number of IDPs in Kayah State and neighboring Pekon Township of southern Shan State at 270,000.
An estimated 100,000 people are in urgent need of food and healthcare, aid groups say.
