Five killed by Myanmar junta airstrike in Magway’s Pauk Township

Airstrikes carried out by Myanmar’s military left five people dead and at least 10 others injured in Magway Region’s Pauk Township on Monday, according to residents and resistance forces. The airstrikes targeted several villages in the southern part of the township, where a junta convoy of more than 100 vehicles has been advancing north since late last month. Among the dead were a former junta police officer named Sithu Aung, who defected to the resistance and became deputy leader of the Pauk Township People’s Security Force, a local People’s Defence Force (PDF) commander told Myanmar Now. “A Y-12 aircraft dropped more than 30 bombs in 11 separate airstrikes,” said Tay Za, commander of the Pakokku District PDF’s Battalion 11. “Five people were killed—three from Thet Kei Yin and two, Sithu Aung and his wife, from Boet Mei.” Sithu Aung’s wife, Aye Aye Lin, died of her injuries while being transported to the hospital, Tay Za explained. “The blast severed her leg, and despite being rushed to the hospital, she bled to death before she could receive treatment. Their child was also injured but survived,” he said. The military has been launching airstrikes in the area daily to clear the way for the advancing convoy, which is believed to be carrying around 1,000 reinforcements, along with rations and other supplies, north to Chin State. The troops and vehicles initially gathered in the town of Kamma, in southern Magway, on May 27. The convoy was forced to retreat after it was ambushed near the village of Than Bo, on the Pauk-Kamma road, on June 8, but later resumed its advance. The airstrikes have been devastating for both resistance forces and people living in the area, according to Tay Za. “We want the weapons to shoot down the aircraft, but we don’t have them. If we did, we could take them down. For now, all we can do is hide,” he said. Pauk Township is regarded as a resistance stronghold. Situated east of the Chin Hills, it is also linked to ethnic armed groups operating to the west. From June 6 to 10, the regime carried out daily airstrikes near the villages of Gyoe Pyan and Man Gyi Thone Pin, along the Pauk-Kamma road, killing one man and injuring two others. On March 11, a paramotor attack on a school in the village of Htauk Shar Pin in Pauk Township left one woman dead and a child injured.

Five killed by Myanmar junta airstrike in Magway’s Pauk Township

Aerial assaults have been reported in the area daily since late last month, as a convoy carrying 1,000 troops continues to make its way north to Chin State

Subscribe for full access

Explainer: Who are the companies and cronies backing Myanmar junta leader’s Thailand visit?

From palace stages to exile: A Myanmar dancer who chose conscience over ceremony

Her parents gone, a Myanmar student prays for the return of a father lost in conflict

Rakhine State floods put AA administration to its biggest test yet

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

Myanmar junta airstrike kills eight family members in southern Rakhine State

Regime arrests 19 CSO members on suspicion of supporting education in resistance areas

Fighting erupts between junta and KIA troops near Mongmit in northern Shan

Myanmar regime continues airstrikes amid flooding in Sagaing