Regime airstrikes have killed at least 33 people in Karenni and southern Shan states in the past month, according to the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force’s (KNDF) Battalion 9.

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Comrade Ma Su Su of the Karenni Democratic Front said they shouldn’t target civilians. “We wouldn’t blame them if they attack the armed organisations. We accept if they launch an air raid on the camps of the resistance groups because we’re at war. But they are attacking displaced camps and civilian villages and destroying their houses in a cowardly move.”

The KNDF reported that junta shelling killed two men, including a child, and three women in fighting in Mobye in southern Shan State while four were killed in Hpasawng Township and one each in Loikaw and Bawlakhe Townships in Karenni State.

“Burma army soldiers shot some people and tortured others before murdering them. The soldiers raped young women before murdering them” an anonymous man who helped collect the bodies in Mobye told SHAN. Resistance groups have clashed with the military at least five times in the town in Pekon Township since 5 June.

About 50 regime soldiers were killed last month, while 3 resistance fighters were reportedly killed in battle, according to information provided by the resistance groups.

Since mid-June, the Karenni Army, the KNDF, the People’s Defence Force and two units of the Karenni Nationalities People’s Liberation Front, which have defected from the regime, have attacked the Burma army’s BP-13, BP -14 , BP-15, BP-16 camps, the Mese Myoma Police Station and a strategic camp on a hill. The group captured many light weapons, ammunition and military equipment from the enemy.

The regime has launched an air and ground offensive to gain control of Pekon, Mobye and Pinlaung townships in southern Shan State, which isn’t far from Naypyidaw, the capital of Burma.