At least 19 civilians were killed and 18 injured across Myanmar in the last week in junta shelling and airstrikes, according to resistance groups.
The Irrawaddy has recorded at least 22 shelling attacks and airstrikes and the killing of civilians in Kayah and Karen states and Bago, Magwe and Sagaing regions between May 22 and 29.
On Saturday, a three-year-old girl was killed and four other civilians injured in an airstrike on Moebye town in Pekon Township, southern Shan State, after a shootout between junta soldiers and resistance forces, according to Moebye People’s Defense Force.
The area was also shelled. Many houses and a monastery were damaged.
On Sunday, two fighter jets bombed a displacement camp in western Moebye, injuring four civilians and destroying three buildings.
The Karen National Union (KNU), the country’s oldest rebel group, reported that the junta carried out at least 10 shelling attacks and airstrikes, including a drone attack, on civilian targets in Bago Region and Mon and Karen states in the last week.
Two people, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed and many houses, a church and monastery were destroyed in Kyainseikgyi Township, Karen State. The KNU accused the regime of deliberately shelling a Kyainseikgyi police station and the township court on Monday morning.
The junta is attacking civilian targets and blaming resistance groups, said the KNU.
Two teenagers were killed in Bilin Township, Mon State, on Saturday by a drone from the Karen National Liberation Army, the KNUs armed wing, and allied resistance groups. A drone bomb incorrectly hit a Daung Ywar village house instead of regime forces stationed nearby.
The KNU’s oversight committee claimed responsibility and apologized for the boys’ deaths.
In response to the drone strikes, junta forces fired 10 shells at Awin Gyi village, injuring five people, including a monk and two novices and their monastery was damaged.
Arson attacks and arbitrary killings have continued in Sagaing and Magwe regions.
Five civilians, including a mother-of-two and three displaced people, have been shot dead since Friday when troops raided and burned 26 villages in Yesagyo Township, Magwe Region, according to a revolutionary news service.
Troops also shot and burned six civilians, including four aged between 60 and 80, during an arson attack on Taung Mwar village in Ayadaw Township, Sagaing Region, last Wednesday.
