(Reuters) – Myanmar military fighter jets launched airstrikes on Saturday in a village near the Thai border, in territory controlled by an ethnic armed group, the group said, as fears of civil war escalate following the coup military last month.
The Karen National Union (KNU), the ethnic armed group that controls the southeastern region, said fighter jets attacked Day Pu No in Papun district, an area held by its 5th Brigade forces, around 8 p.m., forcing the villagers to flee.
“They bombed the area … Villagers in that area said two dead and two injured,” said a civil society group spokesman Karen Peace Support Network, adding that communication is difficult in the remote area and there could be more victims.
A spokesman for the junta did not respond to phone calls for comment.
The reported air attack is the most significant attack in years in the region. KNU signed a ceasefire agreement in 2015, but tensions have risen after the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government on February 1st.
Earlier on Saturday, the KNU said Brigade 5 forces had overrun the army base, killing 10 soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, as the junta celebrated its annual Armed Forces Day with a parade in the capital Naypyitaw.
KNU says it has sheltered hundreds of people who fled central Myanmar in the context of growing violence in recent weeks. Junta troops killed hundreds of people on Saturday, including children, in one of the bloodiest days of coup protests, news and witnesses said.
Reporting by Poppy McPherson; Additional reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Alex Richardson and Frances Kerry