"Five ethnic Kachin civilians including a nine-year-old boy and an infant girl were killed early on August 31 in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township, after intensive clashes broke out in Maw Hit village between the Tatmadaw and members of the Northern Alliance. Fighting started at about 6am in the jungle just north of Kutkai town, near the highway that connects the town to Muse on the Myanmar-China border. Alarmed by the fighting, residents of the majority-Kachin village fled to the house of the village head. At 12.30pm a mortar shell hit the house, according to Mai Mai from the Humanitarian Strategic Team-Northern Shan State, a local CSO. She said the shell killed five people from two families. Sumlut Htoi Ja, 34, was killed beside her daughter Zahkung Nang Pan, 14, and her son Zahkung Zau Hkun Lat, aged 9. Lajin Lu San, 18, and her four-month-old daughter Lasham Seng Hkawn were also killed. “There was fighting the whole day until 2pm,” said U Myo, a member of Kutkai-based civil society group Karuna. He said that at least 15 mortars were fired..."