Five civilians including a child were killed in five days of clashes near Moebye, a town on the border of Shan and Kayah states, according to volunteers helping displaced people.
A 39-year-old man was killed in an artillery strike on Tuesday, and two farmers walking to their farms on the outskirts of Moebye were shot dead by junta soldiers, according to the Moebye Rescue Team.
“Two men were killed as they went to their farms near junta deployments. Another man was mowing the lawn at his home in the town when a 60-mm shell hit him,” said a member of the rescue team.
A 10-year-old boy was killed in a junta artillery strike during the fighting on Monday. A 22-year-old man met the same fate on June 3, according to residents.
Two more children, both living in Moebye town, were also killed in junta artillery strikes in May. A 3-year-old girl was killed on May 27, and an 11-year-old girl was killed on May 29.
At least 10 others including three children have been injured in junta artillery strikes since late May.
The information officer of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force said: “As they are doing everything to crush the People’s Defense Force, civilians have also fallen victim. Those attacks were deliberately carried out by the regime. Unless their rule is accepted, they will continue to arrest and kill both [members of] revolutionary organizations and civilians.”
Clashes erupted in early June when resistance forces intercepted the military’s Light Infantry Battalion 442 as it conducted a raid on Moebye.
The KNDF information officer said: “Junta troops from Light Infantry Battalion 442 have stormed into the town. Another column from Loikaw has also come to attack us near Konethar beyond Moebye. They are carrying out attacks to control the Moebye-Loikaw road. One column is in Moebye. Another column is just outside the town. There are around 200 of them.”
Forced to flee Moebye frequently due to the clashes, residents are going hungry and lack access to healthcare services. Poor families can’t afford to leave the town, and have been forced to remain in their houses.
At least 10 junta soldiers were killed in the fighting on Monday, and two resistance fighters were injured, according to Moebye PDF. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the casualty figures for either side.
On June 1, junta aircraft attacked a security checkpoint of the Kayan New Land Army in the west of Moebye.