Burma’s armed group Karen National Union (KNU) has captured a post of the country’s military on the Thai border, and the Tatmadaw then conducted an airstrike on a Karen village, killing at least two people. The picture shows a gathering of KNU guerrillas.
NAYPYITAW, March 28 (Xinhua) — The Karen National Union (KNU), a Burmese militant group, said its military’s fighter jets fired on a Karen village on the Thai border.
Reuters reported that the KNU said the military’s fighter jets launched the attack at around 8 p.m. local Time on Saturday (March 27), forcing villagers to flee their homes. A spokesman for the Karen Peace Support Network, a civil society group, said they had received reports of two dead and two wounded, with more feared due to the area’s remote location and communication difficulties.
Earlier, the Karen National Union said it had stormed a Burmese military base and killed 10 soldiers, including a colonel. The coalition had signed a cease-fire with the government in 2015, but tensions rose after the military seized power in a coup last month.
The coalition said hundreds of people have recently fled from the center to coalition-controlled areas, seeking refuge. The report said Saturday’s airstrike was the most serious attack on the region in recent years.
Armed groups warn military
Myanmar security forces reportedly cracked down on anti-coup demonstrations on Saturday (March 27) during Military Day, resulting in a large number of civilian deaths. Chao Yaw Se, leader of the armed group Reconstruction Council of Shan State (Army of Southern Shan State, RCSS), warned that they would not stand idly by if the Tatmadaw continued to kill civilians and favored the formation of a federal army to protect them.
Chao Yao Se said, “The armed groups of ethnic minorities now have a common enemy, we have to join hands to deal with those who harm the people, we have to be united.” He also said that Soldiers’ Day is more like a day for soldiers to go on a killing spree, and that soldiers are not protecting democracy, but destroying it.
The Shan State Army-South, which is active along Burma’s bordering border, is one of several armed ethnic groups that have publicly denounced the military’s power grab and shown support for the protesters. There are now more than 20 ethnic armed groups in Burma that control vast areas of the country.
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