Ta’ang groups are calling on the world to take action against the military regime for its human rights violations and war crimes after it launched a week-long offensive against the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in which an entire village was razed.

“The terrorist army (regime) attacked civilian villages with artillery. Fighter jets and attack helicopters have bombed them, clearly committing human rights violations and war crimes and violating international human rights laws,” reads a statement from the Ta’ang Political Consultative Committee.

The military destroyed almost all the houses in Kon Tha in Namhsan Township from 7 to 13 December. According to the TPCC, the military also attacked nearby villages of Hu Mang, Pan Alawt and Mang Loung in northern Shan State, displacing over 2,000 people from all of the villages who fled to Namhsan town or other areas. Many houses and religious buildings were destroyed during the offensive.

A woman from the Ta’ang Civil Society Organisation said many civilians were killed during the airstrikes. The world “must not ignore the brutal actions of the military regime”.

The groups have called for an arms and aviation fuel embargo to Burma. “The aviation fuel is needed for the military’s fighter jets and attack helicopters. It is imported from another country and that is why we want it blocked,” the woman told NMG.

Numerous civilians from Kachin, Chin, Karen, Karenni and Rakhine states, as well as in Sagaing and Magwe regions have also been killed and their homes destroyed after the military shelled and aerially bombed their villages. Soldiers have tortured and murdered villagers, and abducted them to use as human shields and porters.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, since the military coup began on 1 February, 2021 until the end of October, 2022, over one million people remain internally displaced while at least 70,000 people have fled the country.