Junta airstrike on Banmauk hospital kills two health workers

Junta aircraft bombed a hospital and a detention centre run by the National Unity Government (NUG) in Banmauk Township, upper Sagaing Region, on November 18, killing two people and injuring several others, according to local residents.A junta aircraft dropped bombs on two locations in Banmauk at around 4pm, striking a hospital on the town’s southern edge and a detention centre in the downtown area. The hospital took a direct hit, killing a male and a female volunteer healthcare worker, according to a local resident close to the resistance forces.“The bomb was dropped on the hospital, and another one on what's called A1 hill where detainees are held,” a local man told Myanmar Now. “When the hospital was hit, two health volunteers, a male and a female, were killed.” The names and ages of the two deceased health workers, as well as the full number of injured, are still being verified. Detainees at the NUG-run facility were also wounded in the blast, but details of their injuries remain unclear, the resident said. The two Banmauk hospital health workers who were killed when junta aircraft bombed the facility, an attack that devastated one of the few remaining medical lifelines for civilians in the area. (Photo: Supplied) Local sources said the precision of the strikes on both the hospital and the detention centre has fuelled speculation that a junta informant provided the military with exact coordinates. Reports circulated on Wednesday morning claiming that a pro-junta informant had been captured, but this has not yet been confirmed, according to another Banmauk resident affiliated with the township’s People’s Administration Organization (PAO)."It seems like the aircraft came to bomb because they had accurate intelligence,” the source said. “The resistance group here says they caught the informant.” Myanmar’s military has intensified airstrikes across the country this year as it struggles to contain armed resistance, increasingly targeting hospitals, schools, monasteries and civilian-administered facilities in areas outside its control. Rights groups and monitoring organisations have documented a sharp rise in aerial attacks—often killing children-– since late 2023, with Sagaing, Chin, Karenni and Kachin among the hardest-hit regions.The escalation has coincided with growing territorial losses on the ground, prompting the junta to rely more heavily on air power, often with devastating consequences for civilians. The Banmauk strike follows a series of recent attacks on medical facilities nationwide. In July, a junta airstrike on a Kanbalu Township hospital killed five people, including a child and an elderly patient. In November, a paramotor attack on Winmanar Township Hospital in Kani killed seven patients and a staff member.Earlier this year, junta forces burned down a charity hospital in Sagaing’s Budalin, launched a June airstrike on Mandalay’s Metta Nanda Hospital that killed a pregnant woman, and bombed the Kyitaukpauk village hospital in Sintgaing, killing one woman and injuring three others. Banmauk town continues to be controlled by NUG forces, while intense fighting rages with the junta and Shanni Nationalities Army forces west of the town. Due to clashes and junta airstrikes, many residents from some 20 villages across Banmauk have fled the violence.Around 2,000 displaced residents from Banmauk have been relocated to resistance-held villages east of the town, where local authorities say they are receiving basic assistance. Once home to more than 100,000 people, Banmauk now has only approximately 5,000 residents living in the town. The Banmauk attacks are another clear example of the military’s growing reliance on air power as fighting persists across resistance-held areas.

Junta airstrike on Banmauk hospital kills two health workers

Bombs also hit a NUG-run detention centre as military steps up nationwide attacks on civilians across Sagaing and beyond

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