Five Wounded in Second Attack on Aid Group in Myanmar

Five people including a relief worker were wounded in an attack on a local aid organisation's vehicle in conflict-torn northeastern Myanmar, the group said Sunday, the second such attack within a week.

The vehicle carrying 13 people, mostly civilians and journalists, was attacked Saturday afternoon as it travelled from Laukkai, a town in the northern state of Shan bordering China where battles between ethnic Kokang rebels and the Myanmar army have raged for nearly two weeks.

A "Myanmar Red Cross volunteer, a journalist and three civilians" were wounded in the attack, the Myanmar Red Cross Society said in a statement.

The incident came only four days after an attack on a convoy led by the Myanmar Red Cross, which left two aid workers wounded and forced local relief groups to suspend work in the region that tens of thousands have fled since the clashes erupted.

The Myanmar Red Cross is separate from the better-known International Committee of the Red Cross.

Tun Tun Oo, head of an organisation linked to the Myanmar Red Cross in Shan state's largest town Lashio, told Agence France Presse his team had been planning a mission on Monday but would now postpone operations.

"We have to think about our members' safety. Now the situation is very dangerous for them. If they get hurt, there'll be no one to help refugees," he said.

Fighting has raged in the remote and rugged region after a series of surprise attacks launched by the Kokang rebels on February 9.

At least 30,000 civilians have fled across the border into southwestern China, while tens of thousands more are believed to have been displaced on the Myanmar side of the border.

The conflict, the first major unrest in the region since 2009, has renewed doubts over a government attempt to forge a nationwide ceasefire in a country peppered with ethnic insurgencies.