Junta artillery fire killed four civilians including a 10-year-old child and injured six more in Noekoesanpya and Thayetpin villages in Loikaw Township, Karenni State, despite there being no fighting in the area.

Around 3:00 pm on 8 November, four artillery shells struck the villages of Noekoesanpya and Thayetpin. The dead and injured were people sheltering in the villages who had been displaced by fighting from the nearby Loikaw Township villages of Dawse and Yaekan, according to an official from Jobs for Kayah, an NGO dedicated to overthrowing the military dictatorship and involved in humanitarian aid efforts.

He said: “Though there were no active clashes [in the area] the junta deliberately shelled residential villages with artillery, killing innocent people.”

He also added a warning to locals, saying: “In recent days, junta military columns have been conducting area clearance operations in Mongpai Township. Therefore, I want to urge locals to stay vigilant while traveling or even living in their own villages, and to take special precautions against artillery and airstrike risks.”

Since early November junta troops and soldiers from the junta-aligned Pa-O National Organisation have advanced from Shan State’s Panlong (ပၢင်လွင်း) Township into Mongpai (aka Mobye) Township. They have also been firing artillery into the surrounding villages from the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 422 base in Mongpai Town, under the pretext of carrying out clearance operations.

On 31 October, the junta-PNO coalition clashed with the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) and the People’s Defence Force (PDF) in Banmauk Village in Pinlaung Township, part of the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone in Shan State, close to the border with Paikhun (aka Pekon) Township, also in Shan State.

During that fighting two civilians were killed and seven others were injured when they were bombed by junta drones as they were preparing to evacuate the village.

On 1 November, junta-PNO coalition forces burned down houses in several villages in Panglong and Paikhun townships in Shan State.

Fighting between the junta-PNO coalition forces and Karenni resistance forces has been ongoing since the last week of September.