Two children were killed by junta shelling during a clash between the junta soldiers and People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Nawnghkio Township, northern Shan state. An unknown number of people were wounded in the attack.

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Around 3 p.m. on 5 April, PDF troops clashed with junta soldiers near Thanbo village in Nawnghkio Township. Local people reported that after the junta troops attacked the PDF with artillery, and a 120 mm mortar shell hit a civilian house.

“A shell landed on a civilian house. Two children, an 11-month-old and a 14-year-old, were killed by the impact. Their parents were seriously injured. The injured people are receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Pyin-Oo-Lwin town in Mandalay Region,” a local man, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told SHAN.

The children killed by the shelling were 11-month-old Sai Wah Wah Tun and his sister 14-year-old Nang Ma Aye.

Local people reported that the junta troops fired at least 10 120 mm mortar shells into Kon Nyaung village. The shells hit a civilian house and injured a road-side seller. Some shells landed in a sugar-cane field, starting a fire that destroyed approximately eight acres of sugar-cane crops.

“Some shells landed in sugar-cane fields. Then fire spread quickly on the sugar-cane farm. I think eight acres were destroyed. Shrapnel hit a vendor in Kon Nyaung village. She is receiving medical treatment in hospital,” the local man told SHAN.

A combine force of different PDF groups clashed with the junta soldiers near Thanbo village from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on 5 April. After the clash, the junta soldiers enter Thanbo village around 6 p.m.

Local people report that approximately 500 junta soldiers and approximately 400 PDF soldiers are currently active in Nawnghkio Township in Kyaukme District of northern Shan state.

During the clashes in Nawnghkio Township some local people fled to take shelter in safer places. People displaced by the clashes on 5 April include people from Hokhe, Yay Oo, Loi Nguen, Kon Nyaung, Kon Gyi, Thanbo, Bang Bwe and Inn-Ma villages.

“Some people fled to Nawnghkio town and some went to their relative’s homes in other places. It is the local people who suffer when the Burma army and PDF come to fight each other in Nawnghkio Township,” a youth, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told SHAN.

On 3 April, a male farmer stepped on a hidden landmine when he was walking to his sugar-cane farm near Kon Nyaung village in Nawnghkio Township.

In February, there were intense battles between the military regime and PDF troops in Nawnghkio Township. At that time, Burma army soldiers shot dead a local man and more than 500 local people were displaced by clashes.