The Burma Army launched airstrikes from helicopters near to the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N) headquarters in Wan Hai, in Kesi Township, central Shan State at 10 a.m. on 10 November.
An SSP/SSA-N source said that the three helicopters that were attacking the outskirts of Wan Hai came from Military Operation Command No. 2, known locally as Za Ka Ka.
The source could not confirm whether anyone was killed or injured in the attack, which was still ongoing.
When SHAN tried to get more information from SSPP/SSA-N representative Lt.-Col. Sai Kham Htee over the phone the sound of rapid gunfire interrupted the conversation.
“I can’t talk now—they are bombing us,” he said before the line cut. This attack was a continuation of shelling and shooting in neighboring Mong Hsu Township and Kesi’s Mong Nong sub-township, which had began last night.
Sai Awn, a local who is now in hiding said: “Yesterday the Burma Army soldiers came into the village and shot guns into the houses. They have continued today. Now we are staying in a bunker.”
It is standard practice for Shan villagers in conflict zones to build underground bunkers so they have somewhere to escape to when fighting erupts.
Today’s attack occurred only two days after Burma’s 8 November national election. Sai Lek, a spokesperson for the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) said: “This kind of action makes the people not want to pay attention to the election results. It will create a problem for unity amongst the ethnic groups and also for building a nation.”
No parties contested the election in Kesi and Mong Hsu because the Union Election Commission (UEC) cancelled voting. It claimed that the ongoing conflict was unfavourable for polling.
Fighting in central Shan State has been ongoing since 6 October. At the end of October Burma Army artillery attacks forced civilians to evacuate Wan Hai.
They joined the more than 6,000 civilians already displaced from the region who have been forced to stay in monasteries and temporary shelters with next to no aid to support them.
Last week, SHAN also reported that schools have been closed in the conflict areas. Mong Hsu a resident of Nang Kham said: “Students cannot go to school. On the street it is very quiet. Everyone stays in their houses.”
This is he second military attack in central Shan State in three days. On 8 November two civilians, one of them a child, were shot by Burma Army soldiers in Mong Nong, Kesi Township.
By SIMMA FRANCIS / (Shan Herald Agency for News / S.H.A.N)
Reporting by SAI YIPHONG / (Shan Herald Agency for News / S.H.A.N)
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
