Three civilians were killed in an arbitrary artillery strike by the junta in Shwegu Township, Kachin State.

Since August 20, junta troops based in Shwegu Town have been indiscriminately firing artillery at villages across the Ayeyarwady River.

“Even though there aren’t any active clashes, the junta’s been firing randomly day and night, targeting Yaele and Sintat villages and forcing locals to flee,” said a 50-year-old Shwegu Town resident.

The junta's artillery barrages have killed three civilians in five days, and most of the remaining residents have been evacuated.

The deceased were two men from Yaele and one from Sintat, all aged between 30 and 50. The two villages lie across the Ayeyarwady River, opposite Shwegu Town.

The junta's arbitrary artillery shelling has not only caused civilian deaths but also left many injured and homes destroyed.

“Many people from villages at high risk of artillery bombardment, like Sintat, Yaele, and Innywa, have fled. No one knows when a shell might hit their home at night,” another Shwegu resident told KNG.

Junta troops in Shwegu Town shelled surrounding villages and burned houses until late 2023. After a pause in their attacks from late 2023 to June 2025, they have now resumed arbitrary artillery shelling.

The junta flotilla, which departed from Mandalay in June carrying reinforcements and supplies upstream along the Ayeyarwady River to Bhamo Town in Kachin State, also stopped at Shwegu to restock ammunition and supplies for the troops there. Following this, artillery shelling from the town resumed, according to locals.

Shwegu is in the same district as Bhamo Town, which the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is currently trying to capture. In 2022, junta troops burned over 20 villages east of Shwegu Town, forcing tens of thousands to flee, though many have been returning since 2023.