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40,000 displaced by Myanmar military shelling, airstrikes in eastern Bago

Nearly 40,000 civilians fled their homes in eastern Bago Region’s Kyaukkyi Township over the weekend due to clashes between regime forces and the Karen National Union (KNU).

In a statement released on Monday, the KNU said that the mass exodus was triggered by the military’s use of airstrikes and heavy artillery in retaliation for attacks on five army outposts.

The KNU and its allies overran the Kyaung Pyar, Aung Laung Sein, Kyun Pin Seik, Kawt Pyin, and Kyaung Su outposts—all located east of the Sittaung River, about 30km from the town of Kyaukkyi—on Saturday, according to the group’s statement.

Of the five, only the Kyaung Pyar outpost was well-defended and had a significant number of junta troops, the statement added.

The KNU said that residents of 26 villages had been displaced by the junta’s indiscriminate shelling and aerial attacks.

A spokesperson for Nyaunglebin District Karen Affairs, a group that assists local residents affected by conflict, said that three villages located near the outposts—Kyun Pin Seik, Aung Laung Sein, and Tat Kone—were also raided.

“The junta troops looted and destroyed houses and beat civilians,” said the spokesperson, who asked not to be named.

Residents of Kyaukkyi Township in eastern Bago Region flee fighting that began in the area on July 2 (KNU)

There were also reports that four local civilians had been killed and several others had been injured, although details were not available at the time of reporting.

“Everyone is very afraid right now, as the military has been sending reinforcements,” said the spokesperson for the Karen affairs group.

According to the KNU statement, the displaced villagers lack not only food but also adequate shelter, putting them at risk of contracting malaria and dengue fever.

Meanwhile, KNU sources say that major clashes have also broken out north of Kyaukkyi in Bago’s Taungoo District, as well as in Mon State’s Thaton District to the south.

Large numbers of civilians have also been displaced in these areas, the sources said.

The latest fighting in Bago Region and Mon State comes less than a week after the KNU and its allies mounted an assault on the Oo Ka Yit Hta base in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township, near the border with Thailand.

Around 1,500 local residents had reportedly fled towards the border to escape military airstrikes carried out in response to that attack.

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