More than 600 local residents were forced to flee to safety when a battle broke out between military council troops and the People’s Defense Force – Mandalay in Naungcho Township in northern Shan State.
Fighting between the two sides near the pagoda in Longhkan village reportedly remained fierce between 6 am and 3 pm on 10 February.
“The fighting continued throughout the day. Residents fled the village. Some took shelter in Doepin and Hohko villages, others in their relatives’ houses. I’m also not in the village at the moment,” said a woman from Longhkan village.
During the fighting on 10 February, in addition to indiscriminate artillery shelling, the regime carried out airstrikes that damaged houses in the village, she said.
However, the exact number of damaged houses wasn’t yet known, she said.
Of the more than 600 people displaced by the fighting from the villages of Longhkan, Doepin, Kularkwe, Narhkar and Kyankhin, 550 people are currently sheltering in the Hohko village monastery, 50 people in the houses of their relatives on the banks of Hohko, and several others in Thonese village and Naungcho urban areas.
A woman helping the displaced people from Hohko village said, “Some people brought rice and bed sheets. Others didn’t have time to bring anything. Now we’re asking our village to provide them with food.”
So far, no donors have come forward to help the displaced, and they have to help each other as best they can.
That is why the IDPs are in desperate need of food, says the woman helping them.
Although the situation has reportedly cooled down and there has been no further exchange of fire between the two sides, the IDPs cannot yet safely return to their homes as tensions remain high in the area.
Sent by NMG.