Two people were killed by the Burma Army (BA) after a shell struck a business in Hpakant Township, in Kachin State.

According to a local familiar with the incident, Yon Gway, 50, the owner of Soung Yarthi Restaurant and Maung Myint, 45, were killed in Maw Pon, in the Lon Khin village tract, after the BA indiscriminately fired two shells on Tuesday evening.

”It wasn’t a clash,” said the man, requesting anonymity, explaining the regime was attacking Maw Pon residents from Hsan Khar.

Locals said they heard artillery fired an hour before the shell hit the restaurant.

“We thought that there was an explosion in (one of the) jade mining blocks. Later, we realised that the BA was firing artillery shells,” a second anonymous source has said.

The deceased were cremated by the next day.

Last week, the BA shelled the Kachin Independence Army’s Brigade 9 based in the township.