Myanmar junta airstrikes kill at least 14 in Shan, Rakhine states

A boy was killed in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township early Tuesday morning, the latest casualty of regime airstrikes that have claimed the lives of at least 14 civilians since the weekend, according to sources. The incident occurred in Hseng Hkun, a village in the western part of the township near the border with Karenni (Kayah) State, at around 3am, the Karenni Human Rights Group (KHRG) reported. “As far as we know, one 14-year-old boy was killed and another was injured,” Banya Khung Aung, a representative of the group, told Myanmar Now. The military has intensified its indiscriminate air and artillery attacks in the area since late last month as it makes a push to recapture Moebye (Mongmit), a town located just 10 miles northwest of the Karenni State capital Loikaw. Last week, shelling by regime forces killed six civilians, including a teenage girl and two infants, east of Moebye near the Karenni border, according to the KHRG. On Saturday, another aerial assault in Kyaukme, in northern Shan State, killed at least 10 people and injured more than a dozen others, local sources reported. The attack came just days after the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), which controls the town, said it was prepared to begin negotiations with the regime to end the conflict. According to the group’s information team, the victims were near a hill in the northern part of the town when they were hit by two bombs at around 6:30pm on Saturday. “We cremated six bodies—four women and two men, including two volunteers from our team,” said a member of a Kyaukme-based social welfare organisation. The other four who were killed have yet to be identified due to the condition of their remains, he added. Four of the injured were transported to Lashio, about 65 miles away, for treatment, sources said. A resident of the town said it has been quiet since the attack. “It’s much quieter than usual here following the airstrike. Some shops have closed their doors and everyone is living in fear,” the resident said. The town has also suffered from power and telecoms cuts since it was captured by anti-regime forces led by the TNLA on August 5. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State, at least three people were reported dead on Sunday after an airstrike on a village in Taungup Township. The victims, who included a 12-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, were killed in Kha Yaing, a village about nine miles southwest of the township’s administrative centre, according to local sources. At least 18 civilians, including some who were sheltering in the village after being displaced by fighting, suffered injuries in the junta aerial attack, sources said. The Arakan Army (AA) captured the town of Taungup late last month, but fighting continues nearby as anti-regime forces attempt to capture the last remaining junta strongholds. Since launching its offensive against the regime in November of last year, the AA has taken control of 10 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships, as well as Paletwa Township in Chin State.

Myanmar junta airstrikes kill at least 14 in Shan, Rakhine states

The victims include 10 killed on Saturday in Kyaukme, a town controlled by the TNLA, which has called for ceasefire talks

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