Post-coup clashes destroy hundreds of homes in Kayah State

By DMG 21 Apr 2022

DMG Newsroom
21 April 2022, Loikaw, Kayah State 

As of April 20, approximately 1,000 homes had been destroyed during clashes in Kayah State since last year’s military coup, according to the Progressive Karenni People’s Force (PKPF), a network of Karenni civil society groups.

Fighting between the Myanmar military and the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) has been intermittent and ongoing in Kayah (Karenni) State since the putsch on February 1, 2021.

The PKPF said heavy artillery shelling and airstrikes by the Myanmar military had hit numerous villages in the region, destroying about 1,000 homes.

Among hundreds of homes damaged or destroyed by artillery shellings and airstrikes from the Myanmar military are 564 in Demoso, 108 in Loikaw, 256 in Pekhon (Shan State), and 39 in Phruso townships, the PKPF said in a statement.

Some Karenni refugees were reportedly displaced by artillery shelling affecting displacement camps in Demoso and Bawlakhe townships in the second week of April.

“More than 1,000 local people have been relocated after the Myanmar military fired artillery shells and conducted airstrikes near displacement camps,” said a humanitarian aid worker.

More than 20 clashes took place between the Myanmar military and the KNDF in Kayah State between April 10 and 18, according to sources on the ground.

As a result of the recent hostilities, the KNDF has announced that no one will be allowed to transit the Nang Phe-Bawlakhe road in Bawlakhe Township from April 18 to May 18.

“Due to the fighting on the Bawlakhe road, local people were not allowed to travel for one month. Once the situation stabilises in the area, we will reopen that road section,” said a member of the KNDF coalition forces.

Since the coup in February 2021, fighting between the Myanmar military and KNDF forces in Kayah State has forced more than 200,000 locals to flee their homes, with tens of thousands crossing into neighbouring Thailand.