An unprovoked  junta airstrike on Namwar and Muk Chyik villages in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State injured a villager and destroyed three houses, at about 4:00 pm on 24 November 2024.

A Y-12 junta utility aircraft carried out seven bombing runs on the villages of Namwar and Muk Chyik, which are next to each other and under the control of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). One villager from Namwar was injured and three houses in Namwar village were destroyed.

Later that day, 24 November, at around 10:00 pm, Infantry Battalion (IB) 58, widely known as the Waingmaw garrison battalion, indiscriminately fired artillery into Namwar and Muk Chyik villages.

The airstrikes and artillery attacks on the villages were unprovoked, there was no fighting in the area at the time of the attacks.

A Waingmaw Township resident who was assisting people displaced by fighting from the villages of Namwar and Muk Chyik said to KNG: “Three houses in Namwar Village were destroyed in yesterday evening’s bombing attacks and one civilian was injured by shrapnel. But the injuries are not serious. The junta’s aircraft carried out seven bombing runs. After the airstrikes, the villages were hit by artillery shells unleashed by the junta’s Waingmaw Town-based Infantry Battalion (IB) 58. I cannot say what kind of information the junta received that led to such targeting of these villages.”

The IB 58 artillery attack could even be heard in the Kachin capital of Myitkyina City, about 10 km away on the opposite bank of the Ayeyarwady River.

A Myitkyina City resident said: “The sounds of artillery fire were heard at night, coming from the Waingmaw side. However, with the phone lines down, it was difficult to determine exactly what was happening and where.”

Most of the villagers of Namwar and Muk Chyik had had already fled their homes because of fighting in the area in April 2024. A few had taken the risk of returning as they were finding it hard to earn a living and survive when they were displaced. They were the only people in the villages when the airstrikes hit.

Until recently there had been little fighting in Waingmaw Township and it had been calm for about eight months.

But, the KIA captured the border town of Kan Paik Ti, also in Waingmaw Township, on 20 November 2024 and some locals suggested that the junta attacked KIA controlled rural areas in retaliation for the KIA’s taking of Kan Paik Ti.

Junta troops and allied militia are stationed in Wuyang Village just to the south of Namwar and Muk Chyik villages and the junta has been deploying troops from there to Waingmaw Town.