At least 29 people have died in an attack on a camp for displaced people in Myanmar. Numerous people were injured. The rebel organization KIA blames the military.
At least 29 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a suspected military attack on a camp for displaced people in northern Myanmar, rebels said. Among the bodies were “children and elderly people,” said a spokesman for the rebel organization Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which controls the region. 56 people were also injured. “It is not yet clear how the people died and whether the camp was attacked from the ground or from the air,” said a camp employee.
The attack occurred late on Monday evening in the Mung Lai Hkyet displaced persons camp. “We didn’t hear any planes,” rebel spokesman Colonel Naw Bu said. It is being investigated whether the military used a drone to attack the camp near the town of Laiza on the border with China. Local media published images of rescue workers retrieving bodies from rubble. At least ten lifeless bodies could also be seen lying on towels and tarpaulins on the floor.
UN condemns violence against refugees
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said the military was investigating the reports. A rebel bomb site in the area may have caused an explosion, he added, without citing any evidence.
The United Nations in Myanmar expressed concern about the reports from Kachin. “Refugee camps are places of refuge – and civilians, no matter where they are, should never be a target,” the organization wrote on the online platform X.
Fighting between the military and rebels is intensifying
The rebel organization KIA controls parts of Kachin state, including the city of Laiza. According to the AP news agency, the KIA headquarters is located there. There have been repeated clashes between the military and the rebels for decades. Fighting has intensified since the military coup in 2021. More than 10,000 people in Kachin have been displaced.
A year ago, 50 people were killed and 70 others wounded in military air strikes on a concert organized by the KIA. At the time, the junta described reports of civilian casualties as “rumors.” The military seized power in Myanmar in February 2021 and overthrew the government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected with a large majority. San Suu Kyi was sentenced by the military court to a total of 33 years in prison and is in prison.