Children Hit by Artillery in Northern Myanmar


Children Hit by Artillery in Northern Myanmar

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A two-year-old girl was killed and two children injured Saturday after their village was hit by heavy artillery in Myanmar's rebel-held north, an activist and local resident said.

The shots were reportedly fired in Pu Wang village in northern Shan state, an area bordering China where ethnic minority rebels are locked in a long-running battle with the Myanmar army.

Sporadic clashes in the region have displaced tens of thousands of people and dampened enthusiasm for a peace push driven by Myanmar's newly elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"It happened in the morning today when these three children were playing. Six powerful shots were fired into the village," Ying Sau, a pastor in the ethnic Kachin village, told AFP.

His nephew's two-year-old daughter was killed, while two children, ages 5 and 6, were injured and taken across the border to a hospital in China, he said.

Khon Ja, an activist from the Kachin Peace Network, also reported the death and posted photos on Facebook of the injured children receiving treatment in China's Yunnan province.

Both blamed the heavy firing on the Myanmar army, which AFP could not reach for comment.

Myanmar's restive borderlands have been rocked by several outbreaks of violence in recent weeks, only a month after Suu Kyi launched a major peace dialogue aimed at ending the simmering insurgencies.

Her summit brought many key players to the table for early peace talks, though several powerful ethnic militias actively clashing with state troops did not attend.

Around 100,000 people are currently displaced in Shan and Kachin states due to the violence, according to UN figures.

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