The Karenni Interim Executive Council (IEC) told DVB that regime forces killed five civilians and injured three others in Pekin Kaukhu village of Loikaw Township, which is located between Loikaw and Moebye in Pekon Township of southern Shan State, on Friday. 

Moebye town is located 100 miles (160 km) south of the Shan State capital Taunggyi and 11 miles (17 km) north of the Karenni State capital Loikaw. Pekon is located 105 miles (168 km) south of Taunggyi and 26 miles (42 km) northwest of Loikaw.

The IEC is a provisional government established by Karenni resistance forces in 2023. Banyar Aung, the IEC second secretary, told DVB that there was no fighting in the village and that regime forces will only attack from a distance by air and artillery strike instead of engaging in on-the-ground combat. 

The People’s Defence Force (PDF) in Pekon claimed that one civilian was injured by artillery in the township’s old Hkawngei village on Friday after the regime’s Military Operations Command (MOC) 7, located in the township, fired five artillery rounds. 

The previous day, the PDF shot down one of two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) used as “suicide” drones in an attack on new Hkawngei village in Pekon on Thursday. It didn’t report if the second drone hit its target. But no casualties were reported.

A “suicide drone” is a UAV designed to carry explosives or other payloads and deliberately crash into a target, which will make it detonate upon impact. Both Hkawngei villages, old and new, are located in the Hkawngei village-tract of Pekon Township in southern Shan.  

The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) accused regime forces of torching six homes in Hpruso Township on March 31. Hpruso is located 21 miles (33 km) south of Loikaw. 

Resistance forces claim they have controlled six towns in Karenni, including Mese on the Myanmar-Thailand border and Moebye in southern Shan, since Nov. 11, 2023. 

The Karenni State interim parliament, an anti-regime legislative body formed on Aug. 24, 2023, announced the formation of the United Karenni State Army (UKSA) – Joint Chiefs of Staff on Nov. 18.

It is an armed anti-regime coalition, including the Karenni Army, the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF), the Karenni National Solidarity Organization (KNSO), the Demoso PDF, and the KNDF.

It launched an offensive against regime troops in Bawlakhe and Hpasawng townships on March 4 and has since recovered the bodies of over 60 regime troops killed by its forces during fighting in Bawlakhe. 

The regime in Naypyidaw announced a temporary ceasefire on Wednesday, from April 2-22. It has control of Loikaw, Bawlakhe and Hpasawng in Karenni, as well as the MOC 7 in Pekon town, southern Shan.