Villages in Tanintharyi Region’s Tanintharyi Township are being hit by frequent junta airstrikes despite there being no fighting in the area, according to local residents and resistance forces.
Since the first week in August, junta airstrikes from Mi-2 helicopters and K8W light fighter jets have hit the villages of Thakyet, Sinkhaung, Kanankwin, Kwinthit, Nyaungpinkwin, and Htonmakhar in Tanintharyi Township.
On 20 August, a K8W jet bombed Htonmakhar Village, even though there was no fighting in the area.
The ongoing airstrikes have forced many residents to flee their homes and seek refuge in nearby forests or other villages they consider safer, according to aid workers assisting the displaced people (IDPs).
An IDP who spoke anonymously to Than Lwin Times described a pervasive fear of junta aircraft amongst Tanintharyi Township villagers. He also said that the threat of airstrikes had forced him to temporarily abandon his home.
Ko Naga, a press officer for the Nagani (Red Dragon) Force, a local resistance group, criticised the junta for carrying out airstrikes based on unreliable ground intelligence. He also condemned the airstrikes on residential areas, calling them a despicable tactic designed to instill fear and undermine local support for the resistance.
To make matters worse, many of the villages targeted by the airstrikes were also devastated by flash floods in July.
Residents are fleeing to forested areas because they feel they will be safer in the forest than in their homes, according to a representative of the Nway Oo Myittar (Spring Love) aid organisation.
According to FE-5 Tanintharyi, a research organisation based in Tanintharyi Region, fighting, artillery fire and airstrikes have displaced over 63,600 people from their homes in Tanintharyi Region.
