Eight killed in Myanmar junta airstrike on bridge in Chin State’s Kanpetlet Township

An airstrike on the site of a damaged bridge near a resistance-held town in Chin State’s Kanpetlet Township left at least eight civilians dead and three others injured on Wednesday, according to a local relief team. The attack, carried out by two fighter jets at around 10am, targeted workers repairing the bridge, located on the Mone Chaung stream near the town of Kyindwe. “Casualties were high because the airstrike struck close to the site,” said an officer of the Kanpetlet Township Department of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management. The dead included seven men and one woman, aged between 20 and 40. Further details about their identities were not available at the time of reporting. An excavator and several vehicles were also destroyed, the officer added. Kyindwe was captured by the Chin Brotherhood in May 2024 after months of heavy fighting. While some residents have since returned, the town is still only partly populated, the officer said. Kanpetlet is one of three townships, along with Mindat and Matupi, controlled by the Chin Brotherhood in southern Chin State. Paletwa Township, also in the south, is administered by its ally, the Arakan Army, while the rival Chinland Council controls Tonzang Township in the north. Last week, the regime recaptured Falam, a key town in the north that was seized by the Chin Brotherhood in April of last year. A coalition of Chin Brotherhood and Chinland Council forces defended the town for more than six months before retreating. Since retaking Falam, which is home to Chin State’s only airport, the junta has stepped up preparations for military operations in other parts of the state, including the south, according to resistance sources. There have been recent reports that a column of around 200 regime troops has taken control of Kan Gyi, a village in Magway Region’s Saw Township bordering Chin State, ahead of plans to launch an offensive along one of the main routes connecting central Myanmar to Chin and Rakhine states. On April 23, the junta imposed martial law in 60 townships across Myanmar, including seven in Chin State. The move comes as the regime—which has formed a new “civilian” government under coup leader Min Aung Hlaing—intensified its offensives on resistance forces and ordered them to surrender within 100 days. According to data published in early April by the Chin Human Rights Organisation, junta airstrikes killed 19 civilians and injured 42 others in Chin State in the first three months of this year.

Eight killed in Myanmar junta airstrike on bridge in Chin State’s Kanpetlet Township

The attack comes as the regime prepares to intensify its offensives in the state after retaking the key town of Falam late last week

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