Junta airstrikes cause casualties across four states, regions over two days

Locals said at least eight people have been killed and more injured in a wave of junta aerial attacks in Magway and Sagaing regions as well as Karenni (Kayah) and Kachin states since Wednesday. A junta warplane dropped two 500-pound bombs on the village of Mi Ae north of the town of Kyaukhtu in Magway Region’s Saw Township, residents said, killing two young girls and three grown women and injuring at least two more people. “The deceased were a 40-year-old mother and her two daughters, aged 10 and 13, as well as two women from another family, who were in their 50s and 70s,” a man from Saw Township said. “We could tell they were deliberately targeting civilians because they dropped the two bombs right at the centre of the village.” The two injured civilians were women in their 50s. Local sources claimed there had been no recent fighting in the village or elsewhere in Saw Township before the bombing, which occurred at around 4:50pm on Thursday, damaging around 40 houses and destroying five in addition to causing casualties. Civilian homes destroyed by junta aerial assaults in Magway Region’s Saw Township on Thursday (Photo: Yaw Alinn Tan Facebook Page) The military regime carried out airstrikes in Hpasawng Township, Karenni State after resistance forces blocked their ground troops’ advance into the area from Bawlakhe Township. The bombing, which hit Loe Law Htee village near the Mawchi mining area on Thursday, killed one elderly woman and one man in his 30s on Thursday, according to the Karenni Interim Executive Council (IEC), an anti-junta administrative body operating in the state. “In earlier incidents, the military targeted mining sites. This time, it has shifted its sights to villages inhabited by civilians,” said Banyar Khun Aung, an IEC secretary. He added that daily clashes are ongoing in Hpasawng Township near the Htoo Creek, a tributary of the Thanlwin (Salween) River, due to the military’s continued attempts to advance to Hpasawng. The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), a major armed resistance group in the area, issued a statement on Friday warning civilians not to use the main road connecting Hpruso and Bawlakhe due to the heavy presence of junta forces on the route. Battles are also occurring south of the junta-controlled town of Hpruso, according to the KNDF statement. The military is also deploying aircraft in its ongoing battles with the powerful Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and its allies in Kachin State’s Bhamo, Waingmaw, and Hpakant townships, leading to civilian casualties on Wednesday. A man was killed and two others were injured when a jet fighter attacked the village of Shwe Nyaung Pin, less than 10 miles south of the urban core of Waingmaw, according to KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu. While details of the incident remain unconfirmed at the time of reporting, local media said bombs struck an auto repair shop, destroying several vehicles on the premises. A man was also killed on Wednesday and three people were critically injured in a junta airstrike in Nyaung Hla village in Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township, the township’s anti-junta administrative team said.

Junta airstrikes cause casualties across four states, regions over two days

Air raids hit regions and states where the military is continuing to battle anti-junta forces, but appeared to target areas inhabited by civilians where there had been little recent fighting

Subscribe for full access

Clashes for border checkpoints intensify in Myanmar’s southernmost region

The shadowy past—and present—of the Myanmar Times and Frontier

On the road to Namtu

‘Can We Go Home?’: Civilians trapped in Bhamo fighting

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

Myanmar military to tighten digital surveillance via mandatory phone IMEI registration

Junta airstrikes kill at least seven civilians in Sagaing’s Pale Township

China-invested copper mine in Myanmar set to resume after election-period shutdown

Myanmar students face growing hurdles getting South Korea visas