The Myanmar junta fired heavy artillery into Demoso Township in Karenni State at 2:00 a.m. on 19 April, despite there not being any recent fighting in the area.
“Approximately 10 shells landed. In recent days there has been no fighting, however they recklessly fired heavy artillery into civilian neighbourhoods. We don’t understand why they started firing. I assume it was Light Infantry Battalion 102 that fired [the artillery]. The junta soldiers also fired out of moving vehicles”, said an official from Demoso People’s Defense Force (PDF).
One civilian was injured by a shell that landed close to an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp.
“An artillery shell landed close to the IDP camp this morning. No one was severely wounded, one person reportedly had a minor bruise. They fired artillery constantly”, said the Demoso PDF official.
Recently, the junta has often fired artillery into Demoso.
A local news source said: “Heavy artillery shells land every one or two days. A 40-year-old man was injured whilst he was travelling. He received serious injuries and was taken to hospital, he has not yet been discharged.”
Prior to that, a civilian was seriously injured by an artillery shell that landed in western Demoso at about 2:00 p.m. on 16 April.
According to Demoso PDF the junta army units firing artillery into Demoso Town were from Light Infantry Battalion 102 and Infantry Battalion 427.
"The soldiers occasionally opened fire from Loikaw and Hpruso Town. They would occasionally fire from the Light Infantry Battalion 102 and Infantry Battalion 427, which had previously been stationed at Ngwe Taung,” said the official from Demoso PDF.
There has been frequent fighting between the junta and defence forces in Demoso Township, according to the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar.
There were at least 82 clashes during February and March 2023 in the border areas between Karenni and Shan State, which displaced nearly 300,000 people. Since the declaration of martial law the frequency of fighting has increased threefold.
