Four days of Myanmar junta airstrikes leave eight civilians dead in Mandalay’s Natogyi Township

At least eight civilians, including three children, have been killed by junta airstrikes in Mandalay Region’s Natogyi Township since Monday, according to local residents and resistance forces. The airstrikes came after anti-regime groups operating in the area launched drone attacks on junta troops stationed at a power substation and school in Pyin Si, a junta-controlled village near the Yangon-Mandalay highway, on Monday. The first strike occurred later that same day, when two people were killed in Na Be Myit, a village about 12 miles northeast of the junta-controlled town of Natogyi, after a Korean language school in the village was hit at around 4:30pm. This was followed on Tuesday with aerial attacks that killed an elderly woman and her 11-year-old grandchild in Kun Ohn, a village less than eight miles southwest of Natogyi. A couple in Thu Htay Kone, a village about five miles south of Natogyi, were also injured by a junta airstrike the same day, sources there said. On Wednesday, an 11-year-old boy was killed and eight others, including a monk, were injured when a junta warplane dropped bombs on a monastery in Lone Taw, a village less than 10 miles west of Natogyi, at around noon. “Displaced people sheltering at the monastery were among the victims,” a representative of Natogyi Towship’s People’s Defence Team told Myanmar Now. The most recent casualties were reported early Thursday morning, when three civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, were killed at their toddy palm farm near Aung Pan Kone, a village around five miles south of Natogyi. “The boy and his parents died on the spot as one of the bombs landed directly on their hut at around 5:30 this morning,” said a local man. “They had been preparing to ordain their son as a novice monk since last year. Only their daughter survived as she was staying with her aunts in the village,” the man added. Aung Pan Kone is located next to a major road connecting Natogyi and Mahlaing, another junta-controlled town. The road is often used by resistance forces, local sources said. Two other nearby villages were also hit by junta airstrikes, but no casualties were reported. Junta troops stationed in Natogyi regularly conduct artillery strikes on surrounding villages, even when there is no active fighting in those areas, according to local residents.

Four days of Myanmar junta airstrikes leave eight civilians dead in Mandalay’s Natogyi Township

Nearly half of those killed were children, according to local residents and resistance forces

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