The junta’s indiscriminate firing in KNU-controlled Thaton District is making it difficult for farm laborers to get to work, locals told Than Lwin Times.

Now is the time for rubber tapping, harvesting rainfed-rice and growing seasonal crops in Kyaikto, Belin, Thaton and Hpa-an Townships.

Farmers and workers, on the other hand, are fleeing due to the military council’s heavy weapons, and they are afraid to go to work for fear of being hit by the weapons.

A farmer said that all the rice could not be harvested this year, so people may face food shortages next year.

The Military Council’s Theinzayat artillery unit and the battalions based in Thaton and Kyaikto Townships are firing heavy weapons at villages in the KNU’s Thaton District on a daily basis.

In recent days, more than 4,000 residents of five villages, including Zeepyaung and Pyingadoe villages in Kyaikto Township, have fled to safety due to the continuous firing of heavy weapons by the Theinzayat artillery unit, the KNU’s Alliance Supervisory Committee (Thaton) said.

Since the end of November, at least 25 local homes in the KNU’s Thaton District were damaged by the junta’s mortar shells, and at least seven local residents, including a school teacher and a student, had sustained injuries.