Myanmar: Dozens killed as military shells refugee camp

In a reported artillery attack by the ruling military on a camp of refugees close to the Chinese border, at least 29 people—including women and children—were killed in Myanmar.

Since the military’s coup in 2021, which led to conflict with a resistance movement and armed ethnic groups all around the country, the attack was one of the worst on civilians.

The bombardment, which happened in Kachin State Monday night about midnight, was attributed to the military by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and the British Embassy in Yangon.

According to a junta official, the military was not at fault.

“We are investigating. We always take care of border peace situation,” Zaw Min Tun said, adding that the explosion may have involved an ethnic rebel group’s own munitions.

Officials told the media that artillery fired from a position in the town of Laiza run by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which has been at war with Myanmar’s military for years, struck a camp for internally displaced people approximately 5 kilometres (3 miles) away.

There were perhaps 30 fatalities, according to sources and the media. According to Myanmar Now, a KIA spokeswoman described it as a “massacre against our ethnic people”.

The NUG criticised what it referred to as a barbaric assault on civilians and demanded that Myanmar’s generals be tried in public.

“This act of military council is war crime and crime against humanity,” NUG spokesperson Kyaw Zaw said, adding an attack at the border with China showed the junta did not respect its neighbour’s demand for peace and stability.

The military was given the blame for the strike by the British Embassy, which added that it “must stop its brutal campaign against the Myanmar people.”

The Chinese foreign ministry urged the “relevant parties to resolve disputes peacefully, … avoid escalation, and take practical and effective measures to ensure the security of the China-Myanmar border” .

Many residents reside in displacement camps in and around Laiza, which is located not far from the Chinese border. According to the UN, the fighting in Myanmar has forced more than a million people to flee their homes.

Laiza was “shaken” by the explosion, according to a student activist who is now there, and inhabitants were fleeing, she said.

“We are on alert because we worry that there can be second bomb attack,” said Justin, who declined to provide a last name.

“The locals are worried about that and so people are relocating now.”

The attack was the deadliest since an airstrike in April that left dozens of people dead, including civilians, in Myanmar’s troubled Sagaing area.

(With agency inputs)