On November 18, around 11 a.m., the military junta launched an airstrike on the Bankok IDP camp in western Pekon Township, near the Shan-Karenni border. The attack killed one woman and injured two others, according to a ground report from Kantarawaddy Times.
The deceased was identified as a 45-year-old woman. Among the injured were one man and one woman, both of them did not get serious injuries. The airstrike also destroyed approximately ten homes, a monastery, paddy storage house, and a car.
Bangkok IDP camp is home to a large number of displaced people from Pekon Township who fled due to ongoing conflict. Speaking to Kantarawaddy Times, a male resident of the camp expressed his feeling:
“The military is completely lawless. We are displaced people here, but they come and bomb us. This shouldn’t happen. After the first plane dropped bombs, two more came and attacked again. Thankfully, no children were injured this time, but what are they trying to achieve? Are they trying to wipe us out as a people (genocide)? Why do they keep targeting this camp? They’ve bombed this camp before, and now they’ve done it again. These homes were built through donations. Where are we supposed to go now that they’ve destroyed them again?”
The first attack was on September 5, and this is the second airstrike on Bangkok IDP camp since September. According to the Kantarawaddy Times’ collective data, the junta killed 11 people, including children under 15, and injured over 20 others.
The incident drew strong criticism from over 300 civil society organizations, which demanded an immediate end to military violence against civilians and urged stricter controls to stop the sale of aviation fuel and weapons to the junta.
Airstrikes in November across Pekon Township have resulted in the deaths of two women and one man, with five others injured.