Infant among five killed in Myanmar junta airstrike on Sagaing Region village

The Myanmar air force bombed a village in Sagaing Region’s Pale Township on Sunday afternoon, killing five civilians including an infant, according to local and resistance sources. The airstrike occurred at around 12:40pm in Nwe Inn village, some 13 miles west of Pale and 6 miles north of the border with Magway Region. “According to the latest information, three women and an infant have been killed,” said an official of a People’s Defence Force (PDF) battalion based in Pale Township on Sunday. “They fired from the air three times. Phone lines are down, so the information is not yet confirmed. Our comrades are heading to the scene.” According to subsequent reports, there were eight people injured during the airstrike. There included one of the women mentioned by the PDF official and another civilian, who died from their injuries after the attack, bringing the total deaths to five. “There were three aerial shootings. Phone lines are down, so the information is not yet confirmed. Our comrades are heading to the scene," the PDF official said. Local sources confirmed that mobile phone networks had been cut off in and near Nwe Inn. Sagaing Region and nearby areas have been hit by a series of airstrikes this month. On May 10 and 11, the air force targeted villages in Wetlet Township, causing 10 deaths and numerous injuries. A day later, a junta airstrike targeted a school in the region’s Depayin Township while classes were in session, causing numerous casualties. Initial reports confirmed 22 civilians had been killed and 102 injured in this incident, and two more deaths were reported the following day. Airstrikes also occurred in Chaung-U Township, killing four people. Additionally, on Saturday, a paramotor dropped bombs on a site known locally as “Tawtike”—consisting of five houses near a field outside Sithalay village, Monywa Township. The attack killed 4 people, including a 9-year-old child, and injured one person. An airstrike also hit a closed clinic in the town of Kamma in Magway Region’s Pakokku Township around 6:45am on Sunday, injuring two civilians and causing damage to the clinic building, according to a statement from the Anyar Myay Civil Society Organisation-Myaing. Two bombs were dropped near the clinic, with one exploding behind the clinic, injuring two civilians in the vicinity. “It’s a small clinic in that ward,” a representative of the organisation said, referring to Gyopyan ward, where the clinic was located. “It was still operating in the good old days but is now closed,” the representative continued. “The bombs fell just behind the clinic building. The first exploded, but the second didn’t detonate. The clinic has two parallel buildings, and their roofs were blown off and walls damaged. A person who was repairing a car nearby and a child were injured.” Although about 80 junta military personnel are stationed at the Kamma police station, they are not authorised to conduct ground operations, and there have not been any recent battlefield manoeuvres or fighting in the area, the organisation’s representative added. The junta launched another airstrike on a village in Chin State’s Mindat Township on Saturday, according to a statement released by the Mindat Township People’s Administration Organisation (PAO). According to the Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica research group, there were a total of 17 junta airstrikes targeting civilians in Sagaing Region between May 9 and 15, resulting in 47 civilian deaths and 140 injuries. According to Myanmar Now's records, junta airstrikes have killed at least 80 people and injured 185 in central Myanmar since May 10. The area includes parts of Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago, and Magway Regions as well as northern Shan and Rakhine states.

Infant among five killed in Myanmar junta airstrike on Sagaing Region village

The deaths were the latest in a recent series of casualties from airstrikes in central Myanmar, which have killed and injured scores of people in May alone

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