Myanmar Junta Drone Strike Kills Nine Civilians, Including Four Children, in Hpakant Town
At least nine civilians, including four children, were killed when Myanmar’s military junta launched a drone artillery strike on a jade mining area in Hpakant Township, Kachin State, according to local sources. The attack, which occurred late on June 6, is the latest in a series of assaults targeting resource-rich territories controlled or influenced by ethnic armed groups.
The strike reportedly hit a civilian residence between Khunsakung Monastery and Grace Christian Church in Nyinchanthaya Ward of Lonekhin village group, reducing the building and surrounding homes to rubble.
“The shell landed directly between the monastery and the church,” a local resident told KNG. “Nine people from a single Kachin family were killed—two women and four children among them. The fire and force of the explosion made it difficult to identify some bodies.”
Among the deceased were:
- Daw Hkawn Htoi, age 58
- Nan Aye Aye Mu, age 22
- Daw Hnin Hnin, age unknown
- Zau Seng Awng, age 10
- Zau Ra, age 7
- Zau Tu, 10 months old
- Zau Seng Du, 1 year, 6 months
- Two others, currently unidentified
Search and recovery operations are ongoing.
The explosion also damaged dozens of surrounding homes. According to another Hpakant resident, properties within a 300-foot radius suffered structural damage, with windows and doors blown out and several buildings completely leveled.
“The main target appears to have been a private storage site for mineral stockpiles, including gunpowder and raw jade-bearing soil,” the resident said.
The strike follows a week-long military operation across the Lonekhin area, during which junta forces—reportedly numbering over 200 troops—have been systematically destroying mining equipment. Since May 29, villages such as Hmawseiza, Katemaw, Mazupyagan, and Nyinchanthaya have witnessed widespread torching of jade excavation camps, including tents, backhoes, earth movers, and excavators.
Local sources report that the military is also extorting jade business operators, demanding between 50 million and 100 million kyats (approximately USD $13,800 to $27,600) per piece of machinery. Equipment belonging to those who fail to comply is reportedly burned or destroyed on the spot, according to residents in Hpakant.
The escalation has raised fears of renewed large-scale clashes with the Kachin Inde
pendence Army (KIA), which holds influence in the region and has historically contested military encroachment on natural resource zones.
“These attacks aren’t just targeting the KIA—they’re punishing civilians and dismantling entire livelihoods in Hpakant,” said a community leader, who requested anonymity for safety reasons.
Hpakant is home to some of the world’s richest jade deposits and has long been a site of contested control between the military and ethnic armed organizations. However, the scale and intensity of the current operation mark a significant escalation in the junta’s post-coup resource war.
