July 10th, 2021
Some houses in Laykay village in Myitkyoinn village-tract in Belin Township of Karen National Union (KNU)-controlled Thaton District were damaged by artillery shelling fired by the military council’s troops and the Border Guard Forces (BGF), according to locals.
At 1 pm on July 9th, the Karen National Liberation Amry (KNLA) attacked the military council’s troops from the BGF-military command-999 camp based in Laykay village. The joint force of the military council and the BGF fired heavy and light weapons into the village for 15 minutes.
No one was injured in the artillery shelling. Four rounds of artillery shells hit and destroyed the houses. Due to the heavy shelling, some villagers have fled to safer places, a local told the KIC.
On July 1st, the military council’s Light Infantry Division-406 near Nyaunggone village in Hpa-An Township in KNU- controlled Thaton District, fired eight rounds of heavy weapons into the village. A house was destroyed by the artillery shelling. On July 2nd, the troop led by Commander of Military Operation Command-8 Wai Yan Oo from Wanbeinn village in Thaton Township, indiscriminately fired seven rounds of 60 mm weapon into the village, according to the KNU’s statement.
There have been frequent clashes between the KNLA member and the army as the military council’s troops which are active in the KNU-controlled Thaton District are doing the indiscriminate firing of heavy weapons to the village, and the extension of troop deployment and increasing military activities, according to the KNU-Thaton District (Brigade-1)
Sent by the KIC.