A Junta airstrike on the area around Hsenghkun Village, in the western part of Pekon Township in southern Shan State, killed one man and injured three other people.

The junta used two aircraft, a Y-12 utility plane and a jet fighter to drop around 40 bombs in the area of Hsenghkun Village, at about 3:00 am on 3 December 2024. The aircraft carried out eight bombing runs with the Y-12 dropping about 30 bombs and the fighter jet dropping about 10 bombs, according to a source in the village.

A young cattle herder whose identity is currently unknown was killed near the village by the airstrikes, which also injured three other people.

The village source said: “There was one death and three injuries. The deceased was a cattle herder, a civilian.”

The reason the junta targeted the area around Hsenghkun Village, which is near the border with Karenni State, is unclear. But, this is not the first time junta airstrikes have hit the area, according to U Banyar Khun Aung, the secretary of the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (IEC), the provisional revolutionary government of Karenni State.

In April 2024, Hsenghkun Village was hit by two junta airstrikes that killed four villagers and destroyed approximately 10 houses, according to a report by Karenni civil society youth organisations.

According to residents of Pekon Township, junta artillery attacks and airstrikes are ongoing throughout Pekon Township.

Since November the junta has been reinforcing its troops and increasing the number of military operations it carries out in Pekon and Pinlaung townships in southern Shan State. This has made skirmishes with revolutionary forces in those areas more frequent.