Two Christian men who were shot in the legs when the Myanmar Army launched an attack near their village, escaped on 25 August after being trapped by intense fighting for a week.
Both were shot while riding motorcycles on 18 August in the mainly Christian Mong Yu village area in northern Shan State. The fighting was so intense they had to stay in the village for a week before they could be rescued during a brief lull in the fighting.
The victims were taken from Mong Yu to Kutkai town before being transferred to a hospital in Lashio the next day. Both required surgery for their leg wounds.
An elderly man and a girl who were injured when an artillery shell struck their home in Mong Yu were also taken out of the conflict zone.
The Kutkai and Muse township areas were targeted by the army in August, said our contact. Internally displaced persons spilled into Kutkai town itself during that month and are now living in five IDP camps there, said our contact, who added that they are awaiting rice supplies to address food shortages.
There are now more than 4,000 IDPs in northern Shan State, said our contact. Most of the IDPs are Christians who have fled over the border from Kachin State, which is to the north.
In 2018, in both Kachin and Shan States, there were more than 100,000 people living in 169 IDP camps in total, according to UNHCR figures. In May 2019, Barnabas Fund sent a large aid package to help 5,400 Christians who had been forced to flee from their homes in Myanmar during an intense phase of aerial bombardment by the military.
From Barnabas Fund contacts
