Around 4,000 locals have fled to Taungoo due to the intense fighting between the military council and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allied forces in Zayatkyi town in Htantabin Township in Taungoo District in Bago Region, according to news sources from Taungoo.
On the morning of 7 February, the KNLA and its allied forces launched an attack on the military council’s battalion, camps and police station in Zayatkyi town. The military council’s heavy shelling and aerial bombardments destroyed houses and buildings, forcing locals to flee to safety.
As of the afternoon of 8 February, the intense fighting continued in downtown Zayatkyi. Some locals have fled to Taungoo with the help of philanthropic organizations.
A woman helping Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) said: “The number of locals who fled to Taungoo has exceeded 4,000 till yesterday’s evening. We have not received the exact number of IDPs yet. This morning, the philanthropic organizations from Taungoo also evacuated them. The situation is not so worrying as they have arrived in downtown area. Until this morning, the military was still firing heavy shells in Zayatkyi.”
The philanthropic organizations in Taungoo said they were evacuating the IDPs and then transporting them to monasteries and temporary shelters in Taungoo.
A total of 10 locals including were killed and many others wounded in an exchange of fire between the two armed groups in downtown Zayatkyi, according to local news sources.
The Karen Information Center (KIC) is still inquiring about the details of the situation.
The joint KNLA force attacked mainly Light Infantry Battalion-73, Chaungchar, Myosoe, Shar Say Lo and Zayatkyi camps. The joint force has controlled about 80 percent of LIB-73, the Bamar People’s Liberation Army (BPLA) which joins the fighting told the media.
Five members of the joint force were killed and at least ten others wounded in the fighting, said the revolutionary force on the morning of 8 February.
Sent by KIC.