Myanmar regime forces on Sunday used aircraft to bomb Lo Bar Kho Village in Demoso Township, Kayah State, where around 3,000 internally displaced civilians (IDPs) are sheltering.
Junta airplanes dropped two bombs on the village on Sunday morning, with one falling near a clinic opened for the refugees, destroying a few buildings nearby.
A resistance fighter from Kayah State said the village is far from the frontlines of the recent fighting in the state.
“They cannot attack Lo Bar Kho Village with artillery because it is out of range, on the border of Shan and Kayah states. So, they used airplanes to drop bombs and send a warning to the refugees that there is no safe place for them within the state.”
Most of the displaced people there fled Nan Mal Kone, Pekon and Demoso. They headed for Lo Bar Kho Village thinking it would be the safest place for them.
A majority of Kayah State’s population of 200,000 people have been displaced by fighting, with clashes taking place almost daily.
A senior staffer at the Karenni State Refugee Supporting Network said the displaced people don’t dare use tarpaulin sheets as roofs for their makeshift dwellings, because junta military airplanes attack when they see blue tarpaulin roofs.
“The refugees had to run without taking any of their belongings. They didn’t dare to take tarpaulin shelters. The refugees are scattering. Some have gone into the forest,” he said. “They are in despair. They don’t know where is a safe place for them now,” he added.
The displaced people are also facing a shortage of food. The network has asked international organizations to provide emergency food supplies for the Karenni IDPs.
On Jan. 17, the junta’s indiscriminate aerial bombing killed three civilians including a 7-year-old girl in a displacement camp in Kayah State’s Hpruso Township.
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