Shelling kills 3 civilians during the battle for control of a Kayin state township

UPDATED AT 15:04 P.M. ET ON 10-21-2022

Three civilians in a township in Myanmar’s Kayin State died Friday after being hit by mortar shells fired by junta troops. At least 17 locals were injured as they were caught in the crossfire between the two sides fighting for control of Kawkareik.

Fighting started on Tuesday but intensified Friday morning with State Administration Council (SAC) forces carrying out aerial bombardments, according to an official from a local aid group, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons,

“We didn’t dare to leave the room. The fighting kept intensifying around the town and the military was bombing with fighter jets. It is still happening now,” the official said.

“[The] injured were sent to hospital in four vehicles, but two [who were hit by shells] died there. All four of the vehicles that were sent to the hospital were unable to leave.”

The official later informed RFA that, in total, 13 men and seven women were injured by the fighting, while three civilian victims had died as a result of the artillery blasts -- two men and a woman.

He said that four men were injured when the fighting began after a shell exploded near a residential area and another four -- two men and two women -- were injured when a heavy weapon hit a street in a populated area of the town.

Three more men were injured when a shell exploded on the street in Kawkareik at around 10:30 a.m. and a woman was injured when a shell exploded inside a nunnery around noon, residents said.

The battle comes amid an upturn in fighting between junta forces and the Karen National Union’s (KNU) military arm, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

“At around 1 p.m., all departmental offices in Kawkareik town were occupied by the KNU/KNLA forces. They are preparing to attack the SAC’s Infantry Battalion-97, which is stationed in the town,” a soldier who is fighting in the battle told RFA.

“Our side is attacking from the south and north of Kawkareik town. There are general administration offices for the township, and district and housing offices there. They have all have been occupied… The SAC’s Infantry Battalion-97 is next to those offices. We are preparing to attack them. They don’t have many forces in the town,” he said, adding that the KNLA has also occupied the prison in Kawkareik’s police station.

Junta forces are targeting the occupied buildings, sending 20 fighter jets in six waves of airstrikes. The aerial attacks and four days of fighting have caused traffic jams on the road running from Yangon to Myawaddy township, which lies on the Thai border. A passenger, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told RFA many cars and trucks had been stuck in Kawkareik since Tuesday. About 500 passengers were left stranded at the side of the road.

A SAC press release accused a militant KNU splinter group known as the Kalo Htoo Baw Karen Organization and local units of the anti-junta People's Defense Force paramilitary group of attacking the township and injuring "some civilians."

Calls to Saw Khin Maung Myint, the SAC spokesman for Kayin state, went unanswered Friday.

A source close to the KNU, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns, told RFA that anti-junta forces remain in Kawkareik and have "surrounded Infantry Battalion-97," bringing a temporary end to the fighting.

The Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar reported on Thursday that there have been more than 7,700 battles across the country since the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup through to Oct. 12 this year. The research group said Kayin state has seen the most fighting with 4,383 battles.

An earlier version of this story was updated to include the increased number of civilian casualties, a statement from the SAC, and the current status of fighting in Kawkareik.