[acrux]

Originally Posted by kellyhound ↗

Eleven men were killed and five others were injured in a Myanmar military airstrike on a gold-panning site in an area under the control of the Karen National Union (KNU)’s Brigade 3 in Shwekyin Township, Nyaunglebin District, Bago Region.

A Myanmar military fighter plane bombed the site at around 12 p.m. on Tuesday, said KNU Brigade 3.

On Tuesday, Saw Ester from a Karen social organization based in areas controlled by KNU Brigade 3 said, “[The military] bombed Madama Creek using a plane, and seven villagers panning for gold there died.” Of those seven fatalities initially reported, two were Shwekyin residents and the five others came from other parts of the country to work at the gold panning site, said Saw Ester. On Wednesday, he updated the death toll, telling The Irrawaddy that “the number of deaths from the bombing was confirmed as 11 when we went there to assess the situation. They are gold panners in Madama Creek. Five are injured. Three backhoes and four 10-wheeler trucks were burnt.”

One of the five injured is a KNU member and the rest are civilians.

The gold panning site is a joint venture between the KNU/Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council and Swe Dana Tun Lin Mining Co.

In 2017, two years after the Karen ethnic armed group signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, KNU Brigade 7 applied for permission to extract gold, sand and gravel along Madama Creek in partnership with the government.

According to the KNU, the business is intended to provide jobs and promote the welfare of family members of KNU fighters.

KNU’s partner Shwe Dana Tun Lin Co. employs Chinese technicians and skilled laborers in gold extraction, and its license is valid until November.

Thanks for this
I was finding it hard to understand at first as to why the hell they would bomb them at all

[megaman]

The situation is out of control now over there... China and Russia shouldn’t be supporting this they should be working with the UN To restore order

[nojia]

Originally Posted by Streamlyne ↗

They are.

Not really. They're just protesting and throwing rocks. At this point an active insurgency to overthrow the Junta would be understandable.

[JoseQuinones]

The Karen are Christians. They went from headhunters to civilized back in the 1800's. Today they send missionaries all over Asia, from Laos to both Koreas to Japan. I actually had the chance to visit one of their villages in the middle of buttcrack nowhere and they had lights and running water from their own little microgrid. I was shocked. The only part of Myanmar that didn't smell like festering shit and piss and general disgustion.

[viperStrike]

What an awful place. The good thing about airstrikes is people are usually dead before they realize what happened.

[Tyrantus]

Originally Posted by viperStrike ↗

What an awful place. The good thing about airstrikes is people are usually dead before they realize what happened.

I'm not exactly a pacifist but im having trouble seeing how airstrikes directed at civilians is, in any way, a "good thing", and I see at least one person squirming around that would probably disagree with your statement.

It does seem like your comment was coming from a good place but it's a little misguided.

There are many places around the world (especially the middle east) that civilians have to keep a sharp eye and a keen ear on any military drones in the area because they are more than capable of causing destruction to anyone and anything in its blast radius. There's plenty of stories of people who heard it coming but didnt have enough time to do anything about it.

[foxfantastic]

I didn't even know there WAS a country called Myanmar, until it just suddenly appeared. Apparently, it used to be called Burma, which I HAD heard of before.

By the by, whatever happened to Iraq and Afghanistan? Several years ago, they were constantly in the news, talking about their terrorist organizations, their new "democratic" governments, their new voting set up, then suddenly one day I woke up and not a peep or tiddle about them for the next decade.

[JoseQuinones]

Originally Posted by foxfantastic ↗

I didn't even know there WAS a country called Myanmar, until it just suddenly appeared. Apparently, it used to be called Burma, which I HAD heard of before.

By the by, whatever happened to Iraq and Afghanistan? Several years ago, they were constantly in the news, talking about their terrorist organizations, their new "democratic" governments, their new voting set up, then suddenly one day I woke up and not a peep or tiddle about them for the next decade.

Really think about what you just said. And then consider how a minor respiratory virus became a worldwide "pandemic" that led to massive civil rights violations in almost every nation.

[DanteAntonelli]

The Air Force got a message giving the coordinates for a site where there was a bunch of guys with mines, so they bombed the site.

[deliverance_]

The Liberals are hypocritical. They whinge when US or UK get involved and whinge when they don't. Which one is it?