UPDATE - 32 killed in suspected drone strike by Myanmar army on refugee camp

UPDATES WITH CHINESE STATEMENT, CHANGES DECK

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) – At least 32 people, including 13 children, were killed in a suspected drone strike by Myanmar's military on a refugee camp in Laiza, a remote mountainous town in Kachin state, local media reported on Tuesday.

According to Burmese Khit Thit News, the military council troops fired at the Laiza camp where the headquarters of the armed militia Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is located.

During the last night's firing with heavy weapons, at least 32 people were killed and several others wounded, the agency reported.

Meanwhile, China called on Myanmar to resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue and ensure security of border between the two countries.

"China calls on relevant parties to persist in resolving differences through peaceful dialogue and negotiation to avoid escalation of the situation, and to take practical and effective measures to ensure the security of the China-Myanmar border, Global Times quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin as saying while responding to deaths in the airstrike on the refugees camp.

The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in northern Myanmar, is the military wing of the KIA. The Kachins are a group of six tribes whose territory includes the Yunnan state of China, Northeast India, and the Kachin state of Myanmar.

Myanmar's military ousted President Win Myint and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.

The takeover led to protests and a mass civil disobedience movement, which were responded with brutal force, killing and wounding hundreds of people.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid