Burma Army (BA) jet fighters bombed two villages in southern Chin State where no fighting was reported, killing two residents and injuring many others.
According to Salai Yaw Mang, the Chinland Defence Force spokesperson for Mindat Township, none of the resistance groups were fighting with the BA before the airstrike at 11am on 3 July.
The shelling hit the compound of a school and a church in Chap, killing the villagers and seriously injuring two of them.
Salai Yaw Mang told Khonumthung News that the army was monitoring the area before targeting civilians with the airstrikes.
“They deliberately attacked a school and a church where there are no armed fighters. We strongly condemn the BA for the airstrikes on civilian villages.”
Fearing the attacks, all residents have fled into the jungle.
The BA’s Infantry Battalion 274 based in Mindat town, which is about 40 miles from the two villages, shelled Mwi Twi with artillery fire, killing a 14-year-old boy on 29 June. Three villagers were killed by shelling on 16 June.
A local source said the 14-year-old’s younger brother is in the hospital after his leg had to be amputated after a shell landed near their house on 23 May.
IB 274 fired six shells that day, wounding the brother and an eleven-year-old in the village.