On April 2, indiscriminate artillery fire in the village of Pekhon township left at least one dead and five injured, as fighting between the army and rebel groups intensified in the area.
A 50-year-old man died in the attack. In addition, one youth and four elderly people were injured, according to the ethnic armed group KNDF (Karenni Nationalities Defense Force). The group also pointed out that several houses were affected, as well as a church.
“A church was hit by artillery fire in a predominantly Catholic village,” said a villager. The church in question is part of the Diocese of Pekhon, which covers southern Shan State and part of Kayah State. It is one of the Burmese dioceses most affected by the violence, along with the Diocese of Loikaw, in the neighboring state of Kayah. At least six parishes in the Diocese of Pekhon have been abandoned after repeated attacks, including the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.
This latest attack is part of army offensives in the predominantly Christian areas of Kayah, Chin and Karen states, and in the Sagaing and Magwe regions, mainly Bamar (the country’s dominant ethnic group), in the center of the Burma. These offensives are intended to suppress the armed civil resistance launched against the junta after the military coup of February 1, 2021.
On March 30, a village in Chin State, nine other people were killed, including two children, and at least ten people were injured in a bombardment. A local pastor, who is among the injured, lost two of his children in the attack.
Many homes were also damaged. “Depriving children of their parents and destroying their future is a crime against humanity. Targeting civilians with airstrikes is a war crime,” the Chin Organization for Human Rights said on April 2 on Twitter.
Pope Francis and Burmese bishops have made numerous calls for peace in the Southeast Asian country over the past two years, asking for an end to attacks on places of worship, schools, and hospitals.
Several tens of thousands of civilians continue to suffer from the internal conflicts in Burma, triggered after the army’s overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government.
Out of 53.5 million inhabitants in Burma, there are approximately 87.9% Buddhists and 6.2% Christians (including 1.24% Catholics, organized into 16 dioceses including three archdioceses). Four dioceses (Loikaw, Pekhon, Hakha, and Kalah) as well as the Archdiocese of Mandalay, in the center of the country, have been especially affected by the conflicts.
On April 2 in a village in Shan State (eastern Burma), artillery fire caused at least one death and five injuries. The attack also hit a church and several houses in this village in the Diocese of Pekhon, which is one of the dioceses most affected by the internal conflicts between the junta and the armed rebel groups.