Kawthoolei, February (14)
The military regime’s violations of human rights have reached alarming levels in the KNU territory since two years of military coup, the Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) told Than Lwin Times.
In addition to artillery fire and airstrikes into the villages in the KNU-held areas, the junta troops arrest, shoot, and kill civilians and use them as human shields in the event of a battle.
The junta declared that military operations would cease in 2023, but military operations continued in most regions and states, including KNU-controlled areas, and clashes with local revolutionary forces continued. They also fired heavy weapons, conducted airstrikes, and burned down civilian villages.
According to KPSN spokeswoman Saw Lay Kapaw, the junta army targeted the villages where civilians resided and fired heavy weapons and conducted airstrikes, causing local residents to abandon their homes, suffer deaths and injuries, and feel less secure than before.
He added that the junta army’s human rights violations against civilians in Karen National Union (KNU) territory are at an all-time high.
Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled the conflict in the KNU-held area in the two years since the coup, and thousands of homes and buildings have been destroyed.
When the fighting escalated in early 2023, at least five civilians were killed every day as a result of the junta’s airstrikes and artillery fire.
Fighting between the military council and the KNLA/KNDO joint forces is intensifying in almost all of the KNU-held territories, leaving more local residents dead or injured and increasing the number of refugees escaping.
News-Than Lwin Times