BANGKOK: Twenty-nine people were killed and dozens wounded in a military strike on a camp for displaced people in northern Myanmar, a spokesman for an ethnic rebel group that controls the area said on Tuesday.

Myanmar’s junta has been accused of carrying out multiple bloody attacks on civilian targets as it struggles to quell resistance to its 2021 coup.

The latest attack happened arou­nd 11:30pm on Monday (1700 GMT), Colonel Naw Bu of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) said.

“We found 29 dead bodies including children and older people... 56 people were wounded,” he said, adding they were investigating what kind of strike had hit the camp.

“We did not hear any aircraft,” he noted, saying they were looking into whether the military had used a drone to target the camp near the town of Laiza, on the Chinese border. Local media images purporting to show the aftermath of the strike showed rescuers working by torchlight to recover bodies from wooden debris.

At least 10 bodies were shown laid out on towels and tarpaulins on the ground.

Colonel Naw Bu said that 42 people were being treated at a hospital near Laiza, which is located in Kachin state. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said the military was “investigating” the reports.

He said the military believed a store of bombs belonging to the rebels in the area had caused an explosion, without giving evidence.

The United Nations office in Myanmar said it was “deeply concerned” by reports civilians had been killed in the strike.

“IDP camps are places of refuge, and civilians, no matter where they are, should never be a target,” it said.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2023