Junta airstrike destroys elderly care home in Karen State, killing two people

A junta fighter jet bombed the clinic of a care home in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township last week, killing two residents and injuring eight others. Ywar Thit, the village in which the 200-person facility is located, is one kilometre east of three junta bases in Thingan Nyi Naung—those of Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) 355, 356, and 357. Thingan Nyi Naung is located along the Myawaddy-Kawkareik section of the Asia Highway, a significant trade route to the Thai border. Forces under the ethnic armed organisation the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army’s (KNU/KNLA) Brigade 6 launched an attack on LIB 355 and the police station in the centre of Thingyan Nyi Naung on March 7. The next day, the junta carried out an airstrike on the neighbouring community. “The junta air force dropped two bombs this morning and one of them fell on top of the residential building for the elderly, and another one fell on a building where the head monk sleeps,” a local source told Myanmar Now on March 8. The monk’s sleeping quarters were empty at the time of the attack, the source added, but the two men who died were in the residential building and in their 50s. Photos from the site seen by Myanmar Now showed a man covered in blood lying on his side on a bamboo bed, and another man with a visibly broken arm. Those injured in the blast were reportedly taken to Myawaddy General Hospital for treatment. None of the residents were able to return to the care facility due to ongoing fighting in the vicinity. A victim injured in the airstrike that hit the care home in Ywar Thit (Nghat Ngel Lay / Facebook) Junta airstrikes were reportedly carried out once every two hours in the area an attempt to hit Karen forces, locals said. Pro-junta Telegram channels confirmed on March 8 that the air force was aiding LIB 355 in its “defence” against the resistance. Myanmar Now reached out to KNU representatives for comment on the recent clashes but were unable to make contact with them at the time of reporting. The population of Ywar Thit had left due to the fighting, another local said. “Nearly all the residents of the village have fled, leaving very few people behind to look after the houses and protect them from theft,” he told Myanmar Now. Local news outlet KIC reported that another woman from Ywar Thit was killed and three men were injured by shrapnel from heavy artillery fired by Infantry Battalion 275, based in Myawaddy. According to figures compiled by the KNU, more than 760,000 displaced persons have sought refuge from the military in the organisation’s seven districts in southeastern Myanmar.

Junta airstrike destroys elderly care home in Karen State, killing two people

The aerial bombing was one of several attacks on the Myawaddy Township village that day, forcing 200 residents of the facility to evacuate

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