Bombing near Min Kun, Sagaing Region kills four, including infant

A nighttime air raid on a farming village in Sagaing Township in the region of the same name resulted in the death of an infant and three other civilians on Sunday, according to locals and resistance sources. Junta aircraft dropped bombs twice at around 10:15pm on the township’s Sint Kaing village on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River, killing two elderly villagers in their 80s, a 30-year-old woman, and an infant, according to a local man.“They bombed people’s homes while they were asleep. An elderly couple, a woman, and a baby boy lost their lives, and many houses were destroyed,” he said. Sint Kaing, which is 15 miles north of Min Kun, Sagaing Township, is located opposite the village of Tha Hpan Daunt in Mandalay Region’s Madaya Township, a site of intense clashes in recent days on the east bank of the Ayeyarwady.However, resistance forces had not been operating in Sint Kaing for some time, according to an officer of the the Pyin Oo Lwin District People’s Defence Organisation (PDO), who believed the airstrike was intended to target civilians.“This is a targeted attack on civilians,” he said. “There were clashes here a long time ago, and the junta troops advanced into this area previously. Now, with no clashes occurring anymore, they’ve killed people without cause.” The residents of Sint Kaing, a village of several hundred households, are mostly employed in farming.Due to the emergency evacuation of the village after Sunday night’s bombing, there have not yet been any arrangements for funerals, locals said.In 2022, airstrikes on Sint Kaing village killed an eight-month-old baby, a 23-year-old woman, and a woman in her 60s, as well as leaving 15 other villagers with injuries.Near the same time, the commander of the resistance’s Sagaing District Battalion 1 Lieutenant Yakkha told Myanmar Now that soldiers shot and killed people trying to flee as they were advancing into northern Sagaing Region. The soldiers, numbering around 50, were aboard a naval ship on the Ayeyarwady before disembarking as it docked near Sint Kaing and moving into the area while the air force conducted bombing raids. The bodies of the deceased (Photo: Supplied) Two days before the Sunday night attack on Sint Kaing, the junta air force killed dozens of civilians when it bombed the village of Let Pan Hla in Mandalay Region’s Singu Township, which has been under the control of the Mandalay Region People’s Defence Forces and is located some 45 miles from Sint Kaing.The death toll from the Let Pan Hla airstrike, which was revised upwards after initial reports, has yet to be confirmed and may be higher than 30.According to a frontline source, more than 40 civilians have been killed in airstrikes over the last few days across Madaya and Singu townships, northern Shan State’s Nawnghkio Township, and parts of Sagaing Region. Noting that limited connectivity had left many residents of the area without the ability to receive timely information by phone or internet, he said it was advisable to use air raid sirens and homebuilt bomb shelters in villages under resistance control.Prior to the coup, the Min Kun area was known for its ancient pagodas, Min Kun Bell, and traditional handicrafts, which drew both domestic and foreign visitors.The remote and impoverished villages on the riverbank near Min Kun, whose inhabitants once depended on these visitors for their livelihoods, have seen a sharp decline in population as nearby battles have deterred tourism and residents have left to seek more secure livelihoods elsewhere. Min Kun Pahtodawgyi Pagoda, a popular destination for visitors, seen in January 2020 (Photo: AFP)

Bombing near Min Kun, Sagaing Region kills four, including infant

A resistance leader believes the junta air force was deliberately targeting civilians in the attack, which came two days after an even deadlier airstrike across the Ayeyarwady River in Mandalay Region

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