Shells fired from Myanmar injure five civilians in China’s Yunnan province
Incident comes two months after four farmers were killed by bomb dropped from warplane that strayed across the border
Five Chinese villagers were injured, two of them critically, after two artillery shells fired from Myanmar landed in their village in Yunnan province on Thursday night, China’s state broadcaster and other media reported.
It is the second incident military incursion from Myanmar in two months resulting in casualties across the border in Yunnan. On March 8, four farmers were killed when a Myanmar government fighter jet dropped a bomb on a sugarcane field near Mengding village, in Yunnan’s Lincang district that straddles the border.
Thursday’s incident occurred densely populated Wenming village, also in Lincang district, at about 8.30pm, China Central Television (CCTV) reported.
The five wounded were rushed to a nearby hospital. Two men were critically injured, with head and neck wounds, Two women and another man suffered minor injuries, The Beijing News reported.
Fighting began in early February in Laukkai, in the Kokang region of Shan state, between Myanmar government forces and the separatist Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). The rebels are ethnic Chinese, many of them with family ties to Yunnan. Some of the fiercest fighting has taken place in an area known in Chinese as Nantianmen Mountain.
Tens of thousands of refugees have fled to Yunnan, many of whom are believed to be defeated rebels planning a counterattack against Myanmar forces. A local man in Wenming, surnamed Yan, told reporters that people were too afraid to stay inside their homes.
The bombing in March was seen as the most serious diplomatic incident between China and Myanmar in decades. Beijing summoned the Myanmar ambassador and sent forces to patrol its southwestern border with the country.
Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission told the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces that the Chinese military would take “resolute measures” to protect the safety of its people.
