Two Children Killed in Regime Airstrike on Karenni Mining Hub

Six civilians including two children were killed and another nine injured when two regime fighter jets bombed the tungsten mining town of Mawchi in Karenni (Kayah) State on Tuesday afternoon.

“The attack deliberately aimed to kill civilians,” said Banya Khung Aung, the second secretary of the Karenni Interim Executive Council (IEC). The regime “wants to drive residents out by intentionally inflicting damage on their lives and businesses.”

Three of the injured victims are in critical condition, he added Mawchi was captured by the Karenni resistance in late 2024, and the valuable mining sites remain under its control.

The latest aerial attack was launched even though the area has been peaceful and is a long way from the flashpoints of Mobye, Demoso and Loikaw on the Karenni–Shan State border where fighting between regime troops and resistance fighters continues.

The Progressive Karenni People Force (PKPF), a local civil society group gathering conflict data, has recorded a total of 2,189 regime airstrikes and 889 civilians killed by regime violence in Karenni since the 2021 coup.

“We have to stay alert the whole time”, a social worker helping displaced people in Demoso told The Irrawaddy. “They just bomb us regardless of whether there’s fighting on the ground.”

Last month alone, the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) documented 20 aerial attacks in Hpruso, Demoso and Loikaw in the state that killed seven civilians, including on schools and sites were displaced people were sheltering.

Meanwhile in southern Chin State, two fighter jets on Sunday bombed a village near Mindat town, killing eight civilians including three children and several elderly people and injuring fifteen more, according to the Chin People’s Administration which controls the township.