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

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