Four men were killed and two critically injured when a vehicle travelling through Loikaw Township in Karenni (Kayah) State hit a landmine on Monday afternoon, according to a local social welfare group.
The car was six miles outside of the state capital near Zayat Phyu village when it struck the mine at around 2pm, a member of the Shwe Loikaw rescue group told Myanmar Now, explaining that the force of the explosion created a significant crater at the site of the blast.
Two bodies were thrown between 10 and 20 feet from the vehicle, he added, noting that neither they nor their car were identifiable.
“Body parts and parts of the car were blown away, quite a distance from the explosion,” he said.
Three IDs found near the car indicated that among the victims were men named Aung Soe Moe, Tun Min Latt and Sein Min.
While it was not known which group might have planted the mine, the blast site is located in territory controlled by the military, with Artillery Battalion (AB) 360 stationed nearby, according to an information officer in the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF), an armed resistance group formed in Karenni State after the 2021 coup.
“It was in a place where the junta recently launched raids and where junta forces are present,” he told Myanmar Now, noting that the military assaults occurred in villages along the same road and in the vicinity of Zayat Phyu.
Another resistance group, the Loikaw People’s Defence Force (PDF), said in a February 1 statement that they had attacked AB 360 in Demoso using drones.
A clash also took place in mid-January between the PDF and a junta force travelling from southern Loikaw near the village of Nam Hu Htwei, two miles from the site of Monday’s blast and located on the same road.
The junta’s air force bombed Nam Hu Htwei on January 23, displacing its residents, the KNDF said.
The resistance force reported that some 36 battles took place in Karenni State in January, killing five of its own troops and 22 from the junta. One civilian was killed and at least 15 civilians were injured by military artillery fire during this same period.
A member of the Loikaw PDF and one from the Southern Shan Local Revolutionary Union were also killed in battles with the Myanmar army in the state in January.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify the figures.
After the two-year anniversary of the coup on February 1, the military declared martial law in the Karenni State townships of Demoso, Hpruso, Shadaw, and Bawlakhe, where resistance to the junta has been strong.
