Airstrike on monastery in Kachin State’s Bhamo Township kills 15

The Myanmar air force this week carried out deadly airstrikes on a monastery in Bhamo, Kachin State that was sheltering more than 400 locals, according to sources within anti-junta armed groups trying to move the displaced civilians to safety. Anti-junta fighters on Thursday initiated an effort to rescue and relocate the hundreds of internally displaced persons (IDPs) taking shelter at the Taung Lay Lone monastery in Nyaung Pin ward on Bhamo’s north side, responding to a plea from the IDPs themselves, a man connected to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) said. After deploying drones to fly over the monastery for reconnaissance, the military attacked using fighter aircraft during the monastery’s evacuation at around 1:30pm that day, according to the same source. “They carried out two airstrikes against the civilians, dropping two to four bombs each time,” he said. “They strafed with machine guns afterwards, and 15 people died at the scene.” The dead were mostly elderly people and young children, he added. In addition to those killed, there were more than 30 people injured and around five reported missing. The same KIA source also noted that it had not been possible to recover the victims’ bodies. KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu confirmed the facts of the incident. “The KIA-led joint forces went to meet them and move them to a safe place,” Col. Naw Bu said, referring to the IDPs at the monastery. “There were around 400 people. Later in the day, the monastery was bombed from the air. There were both deaths and injuries.” Footage posted on pro-junta propaganda channels on Telegram—recorded in aerial views by the junta drones—showed crowds of IDPs leaving the area near the monastery before the aircraft attacked. Still from drone footage of a junta attack on Bhamo, recorded on May 7 Taung Lay Lone Monastery The KIA and its ally, the Kachin People’s Defence Forces, renewed offensive operations against the military in Bhamo on April 25 of this year, capturing army positions in the Taung Lay Lone neighbourhood of the city including the monastery of the same name where junta troops had been stationed. IDPs, who were previously scattered around the neighbourhood and other parts of the town, began to gather at the Taung Lay Lone Monastery before the junta air force attacked it on Wednesday this week, Myanmar Now’s source in the KIA said. “They knew there were civilians in this monastery. This is where they had their troops stationed before. They launched the airstrikes anyway,” the source added. The airstrike killed two IDPs that day, leaving the rest staying at the monastery terrified and unwilling to remain there. They requested that the KIA and its allies help to relocate them, which was why anti-junta fighters were present on Thursday when the second airstrike took place. Despite the bombing, at around 6pm on Thursday the KIA-led anti-junta fighters successfully relocated 387 IDPs from the monastery to safer places. The KIA-led alliance of anti-junta forces launched an offensive in Bhamo and the neighbouring township of Mansi in December of last year, capturing the town of Mansi after just over a month of fighting and continuing their assaults on Bhamo. Fighting has continued around the junta’s most important base in Bhamo, the Military Operations Command 21 (MOC-21) headquarters, as well as in the centre of the town. In Bhamo, the junta has managed to maintain six or seven manned positions, including MOC-21, the Infantry Battalion 47 base south of the city, troops from Light Infantry Division 88 in the village of Tar Mong Long, and some technical units and support troops, according to the KIA. Drone footage released by the junta shows that they have been attacking KIA and Kachin PDF forces in a city that now appears mostly destroyed. As fighting intensifies in Bhamo, around 600 junta troops are advancing towards Hpakant, Kachin State more than 100 miles to the northwest, aiming to regain control routes into and out of the famous jade production hub. According to Col. Naw Bu, there has been fierce fighting in Kathmaw village, some 20 miles outside of Hpakant. “There were very intense defensive operations yesterday against the army columns advancing from the Hsenghpayar area near a village called Kathmaw. They said the military council’s side suffered heavy casualties before retreating to Nanya village,” he said. While the northern Shan State-based groups who carried out the “Operation 1027” offensive are now facing pressure from China to cease hostilities against the Myanmar junta, the KIA is continuing to assault towns in Kachin State with the goal of capturing them. Since its launch in March of last year, the Kachin offensive against the military has resulted in the capture of more than a dozen towns by anti-junta forces. Fires seen in Nyaung Pin ward after a junta airsrike on April 30

Airstrike on monastery in Kachin State’s Bhamo Township kills 15

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