Junta Drops Banned Cluster Munitions on Shwegu Riverbank Villages to Protect Supply Flotilla

Starting August 27, 2026, the junta began dropping internationally banned cluster munitions on villages along the Irrawaddy River banks in Shwegu Township, Kachin State, in an effort to clear resistance positions threatening its Mandalay-to-Bhamo resupply flotilla, which had been sheltering at Shwegu after earlier drone strikes. Cluster-munition casings were documented in the affected villages. The escalation follows a week of KIA-led drone attacks on the flotilla, including strikes on August 23-24 that destroyed at least one boat and burned two others.