(Reuters) – At least 29 people, including women and children, were killed in Myanmar in an artillery strike on a refugee camp near the border with China which sources said was carried out by the ruling military.
The attack was one of the deadliest on civilians since the military seized power in a 2021 coup, which triggered conflict with a resistance movement and armed ethnic groups across the country.
The shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and the British Embassy in Yangon blamed the military for the shelling, which took place close to midnight on Monday in Kachin State.
A spokesperson for the junta said the military was not responsible.
“We are investigating. We always take care of border peace situation,” Zaw Min Tun said, adding that the explosion may have involved an ethnic rebel group’s own munitions.
Sources said artillery hit a camp for internally displaced people about 5 km (3 miles) from a base in the town of Laiza run by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which has been in conflict with Myanmar’s military for years.
