On the morning of April 8, a jet-fighter attempted to bomb Mankhar village, situated only 9 miles away from Shwegu township in Kachin state.

According to a local woman in Shwegu who spoke to KNG, “The bombs were dropped around 10:00 am. They were dropped from a jet-fighter. They wanted to drop bombs on Mankhar village. But not a single bomb fell inside the village. The bombs fell outside Mankhar village and in the fields of Mankhar village.”

On April 9 th joint forces of KIA-PDF reportedly opened fire on Military Council soldiers who were hiding near Mankhar village, resulting in casualties. The locals believe that the bombing that occurred this morning was in response to the attack. The airstrike reportedly targeted Mankhar village, which has over 100 houses.

After conducting combat operations on March 23, the columns under the 88th Division of the Military Council have been battling the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in villages situated on the eastern side of Shwegu township.

On March 30, following the earlier combat operations, the troops of the Military Council repeatedly conducted aerial bombings on Simulay and Manwein villages. On April 5, Simulay, Simugyi, and Sithar villages were bombed, followed by Tonekauk and Sithaung villages on April 6. As a result of these attacks, almost entire villages were destroyed by fire in Simulay, Simugyi, Sithar, and Sithaung villages.

The ongoing conflict has forced thousands of local people from around 12 villages in the eastern part of Shwegu to flee to the forests in search of safety.