A regime air assault has displaced over 3,000 people as resistance groups attack the Burma army in Nawngkio Township in northern Shan State. A woman affected by the attacks told SHAN that they are hungry, explaining how they couldn’t carry any food rations with them or extra clothing when they fled the airstrikes and artillery shelling.
“Nobody comes to provide us with aid until today,” said the woman who is now staying at In-Wine village. After the Mandalay People’s Defence Force attacked the junta’s Defense Service Academy in Pyin Oo Lwin on April 14 during the Thingyan water festival, the Military Council has retaliated targeting her village and others with multiple bombardments between the town in Mandalay Region and Nawngkio town.
The junta is attempting to recapture the village of Thayet Kon in Nawngkio Township from the resistance force, which it seized on April 15 and has held since April 20th. Airstrikes have already killed four civilians, including two women, and damaged a Buddhist monastery and homes in the township.
Residents of thirty villages that include Thayet Kon, Kant Kaw, Zarli Phyu Chaung, Per Hek, Sisone, Pan Hkan, Ner Pyan, Wet Won, Chay Myit Pin, Thae Theik, Nyaung Kon, Bang Bwe, and Kon Lung have sought refuge from the conflict.
“Some who have taken shelter in In-Wine are living in bamboo huts”, but they lack building supplies, and some are sleeping under trucks, said the woman who has already twice fled the fighting.
She said over 2,100 people are staying in monasteries in In-Wine, Bang Bwe, and Kon Lung.
A man helping them said, “It’s harvest time for sugar cane, and many labourers came to complete the hard work on the farms in Nawngkio Township. These workers have also fled the clashes with their employers.”
Last week, jet fighters bombed the villages in Nawngkio Township, and at the same time, a Burma army column of soldiers has been deployed to the Pwe Kauk and Kyaukme Lay.
