YANGON (UCAN): Our Lady, Queen of Peace Church in Doungankha village, Demoso town in Kayah state, Myanmar,was hit by artillery fire on the morning of June 6, Church official reported. There were no casualties as there were no people in the building as parishioners had already fled to relatives’ homes and the jungle while some priests and elderly nuns remained.
The church’s walls were badly damaged by the indiscriminate shelling and the windows were broken.
It was the third church in Kayah state to be attacked by the military within two weeks. Sacred Heart Church in Kantharyar village near Loikaw was hit by shelling that killed four people and wounded at least eight others on the night of May 23. St. Joseph Church in Demoso, one of the key areas of fighting, was hit by military artillery on the night of May 26 (Sunday Examiner, June 6).
The latest attack came despite a plea by Charles Cardinal Bo of Yangon, for the protection of religious buildings as places of worship and the cultural property of a community covered by international protocols.
Cardinal Bo also urged the concerned parties to end fighting in the conflict-torn nation.
Artillery shelling by the military also reportedly damaged the Jeroblou Marian shrine in Pekhon town near Loikaw, capital of Kayah state, on the night of June 6.
On June 6, the Myanmese military stepped up artillery assaults in Doungankha in anattempt to crush the Karenni People’s Defense Force (KPDF) and their indiscriminate shelling hit houses while a school was also burned, according to local media reports.
Hundreds of soldiers have also been deployed in the compound of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Doumyalay Parish, Kayah state, since June 4, according to local sources.
More than 100,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes in Kayah and neighbouring Shan state and seek refuge in churches and convents while others fled into the jungle as fighting has been raging between the military and the KPDF since May 21.
Several priests and nuns from at least seven parishes joined thousands who had already fled to safe areas.
Karuna (Caritas) Loikaw has played a major role in providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in collaboration with the diocese’s emergency response committee.
Father Aloysius Thet Htwe Aung, director of Karuna Loikaw, said the humanitarian situation is deteriorating with challenges to providing humanitarian response to IDPs and high commodity prices. He said the fighting has spread into other areas, so more people are ready to flee their homes.
“We are trying hard to respond to the needs of people including those in far-flung areas,” said
Kayah state is regarded as a Catholic stronghold in Myanmar with around 90,000 Catholics our of a population of 355,000.
More than 175,000 people have been displaced in Kachin, Karen, Chin, Kayah and Shan states since the February 1 coup, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Fighting between the military and ethnic armed groups and local resistance groups has been escalating in Kachin, Kayah, Karen and Chin states following the brutal crackdown against anti-coup protesters by the military that has led to at least 847 deaths.
