"Less than a month into its campaign to crush Karenni resistance forces in eastern Myanmar, the military has hit at least eight churches in what some are calling deliberate attacks. Church leaders have appealed to the military to end its shelling of places of worship, which they say has greatly increased the hardships of civilians seeking refuge from the fighting. “We told them there are no armed groups hiding in our churches, just people taking shelter,” said a Catholic priest who took part in talks with military officials during the early stages of the conflict. “They know that we’re housing the elderly, children and women. Sometimes I don’t even know what to say about them. This is just a planned, deliberate action,” he added. Local resistance forces, armed with hunting rifles and other simple weapons, began clashing with regime troops late last month. Since then, eight churches have been damaged or destroyed by artillery shells in Kayah State’s Loikaw and Demoso townships and Moebye and Pekhon townships in southern Shan State. According to local residents, junta troops have also set up camp in church compounds, further violating their role as sanctuaries for people in need. Ignoring appeals Father Celso Ba Shwe, the apostolic administrator of Christ the King Cathedral in Loikaw, said that church officials met with senior military officers several times to discuss their concerns. “We let them know from the beginning. We’ve had a couple of meetings, both with the chief of the interrogation centre in Loikaw and at the Eastern Command,” he said. However, as the situation continued to deteriorate, the church was forced to make a more public appeal. On May 25, a day after an artillery shell killed four people and injured eight at the Sacred Heart Church in Kayan Tharyar, a village near Loikaw, Cardinal Charles Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon, released a statement calling on the junta to refrain from targeting churches. “Let us remember the blood that is spilled is not some enemy’s blood; those who died and those who were wounded are the citizens of this country. They were not armed; they were inside the church to protect their families,” said the cardinal. While the military has denied targeting churches, few who are familiar with the situation on the ground believe that such incidents are accidental. “There’s no way they shot these churches by mistake. For one thing, they’re on big compounds that are very easy to identify by their buildings. And we’ve set up white flags at every church,” said one priest who spoke to Myanmar Now. On the night of May 26, just one day after Cardinal Bo issued his appeal, junta troops opened fire on the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Demoso, destroying walls and windows. Civilians sheltering at the church were forced to relocate after the incident, according to a local priest who asked to remain anonymous. “There were about a thousand people staying there at the time. Most were very old, or women with young children. Some were in bad health, and there were pregnant women as well. They came to the church because they couldn’t run far,” he said. According to a local resistance fighter, the church is now being used by the military as a temporary base. Three days later, St. Peter’s Intermedia Seminary in Loikaw’s Narnattaw ward came under attack. One 50-year-old man was killed instantly when junta troops raided the church, which was housing around 1,300 displaced people. According to church officials, the soldiers also stole around 2 million kyat ($1,200) in cash that had been collected for charity purposes. Ongoing attacks Despite the military’s denials, attacks on churches continue unabated as the regime moves to bring the conflict zone firmly under its control. On the evening of June 3, after clashing with resistance forces in San Pya 6 Mile, a village in Demoso Township, the military took over the village’s Our Lady of Lourdes Church. The next day, junta forces broke into a church in Moebye Township’s Pwe Kone ward 3 and abducted three men and a 17-year-old boy who were there on security duty. All four were used as human shields when fighting broke out later that day, according to local sources. The boy was also reportedly forced to carry a bomb. “No one will go anywhere near the church now, because they’re afraid they’ll be kidnapped or shot by the soldiers deployed there,” said one Moebye resident. On June 6, two churches—Our Lady of Lourdes in Pekhon and Our Lady, Queen of Peace in Demoso’s Dawngankhar ward—were badly damaged by artillery shells. No longer able to claim that these attacks are accidental, the regime has begun trying to justify them by saying that local “terrorists” are using the churches to launch attacks on regime forces. Resistance fighters dismissed these allegations as ridiculous. “We would never use churches for cover,” said one. “We value religious buildings. Why would we use them to kill people?” Meanwhile, even priests are no longer able to stay in churches, according to Father Celso Ba Shwe. “Churches in these conflict areas aren’t safe for the displaced anymore. But we still have to make sure that they’re OK, so the priests of Demoso can’t stay there, either,” he said..."