2,000 Kachin trapped by Myanmar fighting lack food, medicine
BANGKOK — Community leaders from the Christian ethnic Kachin community have called for urgent medical attention for about 2,000 civilians, including pregnant women and the elderly, trapped in the jungle where they fled to escape clashes between the Myanmar’s army and the Kachin guerrillas in the country’s north.
The latest fighting in Kachin state’s Tanai region — an area known for amber and gold mining — began in early April with government shelling and airstrikes in response to threats by the rebel Kachin Independence Army to retake lost territory.
The Rev. Mung Dan, a Baptist community leader, said Wednesday the civilians trapped without medicine or sufficient food include five pregnant women, two women who just gave birth, 93 old people, and other villagers wounded by mortar shelling. They are “in dire need of medical treatment as well as rations,” he said by phone.
“Even today, it’s been raining the whole day in our region and these civilians do not have any shelter yet and they are suffering from sickness as well,” he added.