The Military Council launched an aerial bombing attack on an IDP camp, where internally displaced people were taking refuge, in Tee Lon village tract, east of Loikaw city in Karenni (Kayah) State, according to Khu Nye Reh, the Minister of Interior Affairs of the Karenni State Government.
The IDP camp was bombed by three fighter jets in the evening of January 24 th , at a time when there was no fighting going on, he said.
Khu Nye Reh told Kantarawaddy Times, ” At 5:00 pm the planes came again and bombed the place they had attacked near Loikaw the previous day. But all the people who lived there in temporary tents were already gone. The jets bombed the place for about 15 minutes, dropping 3 more bombs, and fired machine guns from the planes”.
It is not yet known exactly how much damage was done to the IDP camp due to the bombing. The Military Council’s Air Force also dropped two 500-pound bombs near the IDP camp on January 22nd.
The junta’s air force had previously bombed an IDP camp east of Loikaw on January 22nd and again on 24th, as well as dropping bombs around Nanhu village in Demoso Township on January 23rd. In recent days, the Military Council has been targeting not only combat zones but also IDP camps and villages in Karenni state with airstrikes locals said.
In Khu Nye Reh’s view the Military Council may be relying more on airstrikes and shelling, as it no longer has sufficient forces to carry out ground operations.
“In my opinion they are not strong enough to attack on the ground. Forces such as the 77th Division, which used to operate in Rakhine State, has now been transferred to our area, but only parts if their full strength division are here. As far as we know, they can only send two or three battalions, or a tactical operation command, that’s all.
As the forces on the ground are not enough for clearance operations, they can do indiscriminate shelling and airstrikes. We noticed that their airstrikes have become more frequent lately. For example, their Air Force came and provided air support during the battle to capture a camp on January 20th. And they also bombed near Loikaw recently. We had heard that similar incidents were happening around Demoso, so we assumed that their airstrikes had intensified”, he said.
Near Demoso there had been an attack of Karenni joint forces targeting the Military Council’s Mae Salong hill camp near Nan Phe village in Bawlakhe Township on January 20th. At that time, the Military Council supported their ground forces with three rounds of airstrike.
According to a January 1st statement by the Progressive Karenni People Force (PKPF), the Military Council has carried out 184 airstrikes in Karenni State since the coup.
