Myanmar jets strike several villages as rebels seize base
UN calls on junta to commit publicly to end violence and act on appeals made by Indonesia and Malaysia to release all political prisoners; protesters stage rally in Yangon
Ethnic Karen guerrillas said they captured a Myanmar army base on Tuesday near the border with Thailand, representing a morale-boosting action for those opposing the military’s takeover of the country’s civilian government in February.
Myanmar’s military staged airstrikes several hours later on villages in territory controlled by the Karen forces, according to a guerrilla spokesman, a senior Thai official and a relief worker.
A spokesman for the Karen National Union (KNU), the minority’s main political group seeking greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government, said its armed wing atacked the base at 5am and burned it down just ater dawn.
Casualty figures were not yet known, the KNU’S head of foreign affairs, Padoh Saw Taw Nee, said in a text message.
There was no immediate comment from Myanmar’s military government.
The KNU, which controls territory in eastern Myanmar near the Thai border, is a close ally of the resistance movement against the military coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Its armed wing is called the
Karen National Liberation Army.
Video shot from the Thai side of the border showed flames rising from the government position on the banks of the Salween River amid the sound of heavy gunfire. The river marks the border with Thailand.
Padoh Man Man of the KNLA’S 5th Brigade, which launched the morning atack, said Myanmar’s military carried out airstrikes in the early aternoon, but he did not know how many casualties there were.
He described the air raids as a “heinous war crime” and called for the international community to pressure the junta to stop them.
Sithichai Jindaluang, the governor of Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province, confirmed at a news conference that Karen guerrillas had overrun the Myanmar base and said a woman on Thai soil was wounded by a stray bullet.
He said about 450 villagers have been evacuated from Mae Sam Lap for their own safety.
Sithichai also said a Myanmar military aircrat later bombed a Karen village.
Dave Eubank of the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian aid group with extensive experience in the area, said he could confirm there had been airstrikes on Karen villages in Papun district.
He said five bombs were dropped but caused no casualties. Myanmar’s army was also staging ground atacks in the area, Eubank said.
On Tuesday, a flash mob of anti-military protesters surged through an area of Yangon for the second successive day.
The UN’S top expert on rights in Myanmar on Tuesday challenged junta chief Min Aung Hlaing to commit publically to ending violence in the country.
Thomas Andrews, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, wrote an open leter to the senior general, urging him to tell the country’s people they were free to oppose his rule without fear of injury or arbitrary arrest.
Asean leaders at the Jakarta summit issued a “five-point consensus” statement that called for the “immediate cessation of violence” and a visit to Myanmar by a regional special envoy.
At the meeting, “you reportedly agreed, through a consensus document released at the conclusion of the meeting, to an ‘ immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar,’” Andrews wrote to the junta chief.
“This is an imperative first-step toward ending a crisis that has already cost more than 750 lives, including the lives of young children, at the hands of Myanmar’s security forces.”
The leter went on to press him for a public commitment to it.
Andrews also urged Min Aung Hlaing to act on appeals made by Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to release all political prisoners detained since Feb.1 promptly and unconditionally.
Myanmar’s junta said on Tuesday it would heed regional pleas to stop violence only when the country “returns to stability.”.
It emphasised that Myanmar would “give careful consideration to constructive suggestions made by Asean Leaders when the situation returns to stability in the country since priorities at the moment were to maintain law and order and to restore community peace and tranquility.”