Indiscriminate regime shelling and rifle fire on civilian areas in Hpakant Region has killed and maimed innocent civilians in the area of Kachin State this month. According to a local, who spoke to NMG on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals, one villager in Thoung Kawt was killed and at least seven people were injured by the shelling.
“Although there were no clashes, Burma Army soldiers (BA) attacked Kawng Sang and Thoung Kawt with small and heavy weapons on 23 November,” he said, and four shells hit the villages, causing the causalities and damaging some houses and a building owned by a jade mining company. The shelling forced nearly 600 people from the two villages and nearby Kayin Chaung to seek safety in Buddhist monasteries and churches in the town of Hseng Tawng, also called Seik Mu.
The next day, Bum Nam residents were ordered to leave by 100 BA soldiers who arrived in the village at 10am. A resident who requested anonymity said everyone was afraid of the soldiers and left immediately. He suspects that the army wants to sleep in their homes.
A youth helping some of the displaced villagers at a church in Hseng Tawng told NMG she was worried they won't able to provide enough food for them if they have to stay for a long time.
“Now that it’s cold here, they need warm clothes and blankets,” she said, adding that some had brought nothing when their villages were bombed.
In addition to the attacks, soldiers have gone to people’s homes to check their household registries as they step up their offensive against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the People's Defence Force in the township.
At the end of October, regime jet fighters bombed a concert in A Nang Pa commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation, killing scores of people.
In the town of Hpakant, security has been tightened: soldiers stop people at checkpoints to check their ID, phones and vehicles. In addition, many soldiers are patrolling the road from Hpakant to Myitkyina.
