Three-year-old among nine killed by junta shelling near Myanmar’s jade-mining hub

The Myanmar military’s artillery injured more than 30 people and killed nine, including a three-year-old boy, in Kachin State’s Hpakant Township this week, according to local sources. Junta forces based in northeastern Hpakant Township fired on the villages of Sharawhka, Myaukphyu, Sankywei, and Hseng Taung as well as Aye Mya Thar Yar Ward repeatedly between Sunday and Thursday. The regime troops seized a hilltop base, located around a mile west of Hpakant, from anti-junta fighters led by the Kachin Independence Army on Sunday, triggering intense fighting. The KIA took the base back the following day, provoking the junta to bombard the surrounding territory with artillery in response. At around 9pm Thursday evening, the junta’s artillery fire struck an area where displaced people were sheltering near Hseng Taung, killing an elderly woman and injuring at least five other civilians, residents of the township said. Shelling also killed two young women in Hpakant’s Aung Myay Thit Ward and a man in Sharawhka on Wednesday. The previous day, an exploding shell injured two civilians in Hpakant’s Aye Mya Tharyar Ward, one of whom later reportedly died from her injuries On Sunday and Monday, the artillery had also killed three adults between 21 and 88 years old and a three-year-old child in villages west of the hilltop base. According to a male resident of Hpakant, most artillery strikes in the town took place during temporary lulls in the fighting. “The clashes occur only during the day and generally cease from evening until morning. When the shells struck residential areas, no fighting was taking place,” the man said on Thursday evening. “So far, three shells have been fired from the hilltop base. I’m not certain what kind of weapon it was. I believe it was a loud howitzer.” A man in his 40s from Hpakant agreed that residents west of the town were no longer safe. “They fire indiscriminately whenever they incur damage. They’ve been shelling nearly every day, mostly from the hilltop base,” he said yesterday. “People are torn between fleeing or staying inside their homes.” KIA spokesperson Col. Naw Bu confirmed on Thursday that clashes are ongoing in Hpakant’s Aye Mya Thar Yar Ward, but said confirmed details are still unavailable. House set on fire by an exploding artillery shell in Hpakant Township’s Sharawhka village on August 5 (Photo: Supplied) “The clashes have been ongoing since around 1pm today, involving direct ground combat,” he said. The KIA has said the junta has been launching ground assaults on Hpakant, which is the centre of Myanmar’s most important area for jade production, since May. Junta naval vessels have been carrying reinforcements as well as weapons, ammunition, and other supplies up the Ayeyarwady River towards Bhamo another disputed area in the south of Kachin State, prompting fears that clashes between the military and KIA may also resume there soon. The KIA has seized and held control of more than a dozen towns in Kachin State as well as Mabein in northern Shan State since launching an offensive against junta forces in 2024.

Three-year-old among nine killed by junta shelling near Myanmar’s jade-mining hub

The regime forces based in Hpakant Township, clashing with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) for control of a hilltop outpost, have been firing on nearby villages during lulls in the fighting

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