Six people, including two infants, were killed in two days of random junta artillery fire into Konepaw Village in Pekon Township in southern Shan State.

The artillery was fired by Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 421 stationed in Pekon Township.

On 27 November, at about 3:30 pm LIB 421 shelling of Konepaw Village killed six people, including a 40-year-old man and two infants, a one-month-old and a one-year-old. A 24-year-old woman and two children aged 12 and 14 were also injured in the attack, according to local civil relief organisations.

The next day, 28 November, at about 7:30 am an artillery shell fired by LIB 421 hit the Kayan Restaurant in Konepaw Village and injured two women, according to a Pekon resident.

He said: “I heard that two women were injured in a shelling attack this morning. The junta is relentlessly targeting villages with indiscriminate shelling almost daily. Just yesterday, six people, including children, were killed in an artillery strike.”

Now that the rainy season has ended and the cool dry season is starting, the junta is moving large numbers of troops into the Karenni townships of Pekon, Mobye (Mongpai), and Loikaw, in preparation for launching counter offensives.