Four civilians, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed and several wounded when a mortar bomb hit a crowded road in conflict-hit eastern Myanmar, witnesses and police said yesterday.
The incident happened on Saturday in an area of Karen State near the Thai border. which residents say has been rattled by fighting in recent weeks between troops and a rebel splinter group representing the ethnic Karen minority.
The latest round of talks aimed at securing a nationwide ceasefire in a nation beset by ethnic insurgencies ended in deadlock late last month — leaving the government still short of its target of reaching peace before general elections are held in Novmber next year.
A “heavy weapon” hit the road between the towns of Kawkareik and Myawaddy on Saturday morning, a local police officer said on condition of anonymity.
“Three men and a 12-year old boy were killed. Another two women and eight more men — including an abbot from a nearby monastery — were wounded,” the policeman said.
A local hospital official, also asking not to be named, confirmed the death toll, but put the number of wounded at eight.
It was not clear who fired the weapon.
Witnesses said a mortar bomb struck a group of passengers who had left their vehicles, which were blocked by a broken-down lorry.
Residents said the attack was probably linked to recent fighting between troops and rebels from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Association (DKBA), a splinter group of the larger Karen National Union.
Neither side was immediately available for comment, but the army has a position near the road.
There have been clashes in Karen State for more than two weeks after the DKBA apparently balked at the movement of soldiers in the tense area — even though the group signed a peace accord with the army more than a decade ago.
Efforts to negotiate a nationwide end to decades of civil conflicts in minority borderlands have long been a government priority.
Myanmar has so far signed ceasefires with 14 of the 16 major armed ethnic groups.
The Karen National Union has joined peace talks and a new round of negotations is scheduled for later this month.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese