BANGKOK: 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 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.