Sixteen families fleeing violence between armed groups had to find new accommodation after the Burma Army (BA) shelled Lawkamarazein Buddhist monastery close to where they were camping in Momauk, Kachin State.

One local was injured by the shell that hit the monastery on 11 November, said a member of a internally displaced person (IDP) committee assembled to help them, on condition of anonymity to SHAN. ”A shrapnel hit his legs and shoulder and two houses burnt down when the shell exploded,” Most of the Lon Ja villagers have since been moved into a building owned by the Shan Literature and Cultural Association, he said, but some have also taken shelter with relatives in town.

More than 600 people from Lon Ja and Nawng Poung have been uprooted by the conflict between the BA and the Kachin Independence Army, backed by the People’s Defence Force, in Momauk Township since late last month. Two women were killed during the fighting and four injured are still in hospital.

A man who also requested anonymity because he feared reprisals said that the elderly and children are getting sick because they don’t have clean drinking water and its getting cold. “There’s no doctor in our camp. We’ve have to buy medicines for the sick and the cost has gone up drastically.”