35 civilians killed in weekend Myanmar junta strikes, Rakhine State hit hardest

At least 35 civilians, including 10 children, were killed in nationwide junta airstrikes and shelling over the weekend, according to anti-junta groups. In Rakhine State, 28 people perished in Mrauk-U Township on Saturday when a warplane targeted a prison of war camp. The deceased were identified as the family members of captive junta troops, who were scheduled to be released in the near future, according to the Arakan Army (AA), a powerful ethnic armed organisation. Of the 28 deaths, the AA said that seven boys and two girls, aged two to 15, were killed in the attack. The rest of the victims were women.The armed group shared photographs on its Telegram channel Sunday, showing bodies in shrouds lined up in a row as survivors mourned their loved ones. The military regime has escalated aerial assaults on resistance-held areas in Rakhine State following the fall of the junta’s Western Regional Military Command (RMC) in Ann Township on December 20.In Mandalay and southern Shan State, at least seven civilians were killed by shelling and regime airstrikes over the last few days. Motorized gliders bombed a rural village in Taungtha Township, Mandalay Region, on Saturday, killing four civilians. On January 17, in southern Shan State’s Nyaungshwe Township, the Pa-O National Organization, an armed group allied with the junta, killed three displaced people, including a six-year-old child when the group launched a barrage of artillery shells into a civilian area. The escalation in airstrikes follows a series of deadly attacks, including the December 8 bombing in Ramree Township, Rakhine State, which killed dozens of villagers. Since the first week of January, a series of regime airstrikes have killed at least a dozen people in AA-controlled areas across Gwa, Ponnagyun, Thandwe, and Myebon townships, further intensifying the regime's assault on civilians. Earlier this month, the junta's airstrikes killed another 27 civilians across three states in one weekend.

35 civilians killed in weekend Myanmar junta strikes, Rakhine State hit hardest

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