Three people have died, and five, including a child, are wounded following a State Administration Council (SAC) airstrike on Laukkai in the Kokang Self-administered Region in northern Shan State.
According to Kokang media, the Burma army attacked the town on December 23, with shells landing next to a displaced camp. Six days earlier, a 16-year-old girl, displaced and staying at a camp near Border Post (BP) 123 along the Chinese border, lost both her legs after stepping on a concealed landmine while searching for firewood. On that day, a SAC jet fighter bombed around the police station in Hsenwi town, killing two civilians and injuring five.
Prior to these attacks, in mid-December, SAC representatives met with Three Brotherhood Alliance—Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army—in the Chinese city of Kunming in Yunnan Province. Although Chinese officials claimed a ceasefire agreement was brokered at the meeting, SAC broke it after launching nearly 50 airstrikes on MNDAA camps around Laukkai town in late December, according to Kokang media outlets.
Fighting also continues in Namkham and Muse townships along the border.
On December 16, the general secretary of Kokang District and deputy head of the political department visited a displaced camp near BP 125 to inform residents that SAC would launch airstrikes along the border area at any time.
