More than 1,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) from Taungyarkan Village in Palaw Township, Tanintharyi Region, are in urgent need of assistance, according to aid workers. An intense fighting between the junta and resistance forces near the village forced locals to flee.

Around 50 junta soldiers, who had withdrawn from their original base at Tamiletaung camp, took position in Taungyarkan’s monastery. On September 26, they came under attack by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade 4’s special forces, triggering intense clashes.

As a result, villagers fled to safer areas and have not yet been able to return home.

“The displaced people really need shelter right now. Some of them are staying in the forest, putting up small shacks with just tarpaulin sheets. Hardly anyone is able to come and help them. Before, whenever fighting broke out, villagers could take refuge in the monastery. But now that the junta is occupying it, they have nowhere to go. People are afraid the clashes will flare up again, so they don’t dare return home,” a local aid worker told KIC.

Displaced villagers alleged that soldiers are still in Taungyarkan Village, looting belongings and slaughtering livestock as residents flee.

Two junta soldiers were killed and three others wounded in the September 26 clash, according to KNLA Brigade 4.

On September 9, clashes erupted in Htaminmasar Village, Palaw Township, as junta troops attempted to retake a lost camp, leaving at least 15 junta casualties, according to the KNLA.

Photo credit - CJ