Junta airstrikes kill 10 in Mandalay Region, including children and monks

Junta warplanes carried out two days of strikes on four townships in Myanmar’s central Mandalay Region, killing 10 civilians—including children—and wounding at least nine others on Monday and Tuesday, sources said.Around 2:30 pm on September 16, junta planes struck Digar village, northeast of Madaya Township in Mandalay Region, killing three boys aged 12, 14, and 17, and injuring two others.On the afternoon of September 15, junta warplanes struck three monasteries, including one in Se Taw village east of Madaya Township, while simultaneously bombing nearby Oke Kan village, where a blast hit a motorcycle repair shop and killed Win Tin, 50, along with two men in their 30s. A monk, a 30-year-old woman named Ma Nge, and a man identified as Maung Lay were also killed in the attack, while a young novice and a man named Aung Din were critically injured. All had been displaced and were sheltering at the monastery, residents told Myanmar Now.“I witnessed the deaths of children yesterday,” a 20-year-old resident of Digar village told Myanmar Now. “It was horrifying. I can’t even look at the photos—their injuries were too severe. Even now, a fighter jet is hovering above, and we are so scared.” At the same time, the junta also carried out airstrikes in other parts of Mandalay Region, striking Thabeikkyin, Madaya, and Singu townships on September 15, followed by an airstrike on Mogok Town the next morning. The attacks killed 65-year-old Kyi Tint and injured six residents in Singu and Mogok.Resistance sources say the junta has reached Ngar Lone Pyun village, between Madaya and the eastern towns of Kyauktada and Lamaing, where fighting with the Mandalay People’s Defence Force (MDY-PDF) is ongoing. “I heard two days ago that we had lost the Ngar Lone Pyun area, and clashes are still ongoing there,” a resistance source told Myanmar Now. “The junta is currently advancing toward Singu and fighting a coalition of resistance forces at various points between Madaya, Singu, and Thabeikkyin.” The Myanmar military has regained control of western Madaya and continues to pose a threat to eastern Madaya and northern Singu Township, sources say.In early September, Osman, an MDY-PDF information officer who goes by one name, told Myanmar Now that resistance forces had withdrawn from some areas in eastern Madaya Township, although fighting remained intense in most villages. The junta has stepped up ground offensives and airstrikes to seize back Singu, Thabeikkyin, Madaya, and Mogok—resistance-held towns in Mandalay Region—before the upcoming election. The junta also carried out airstrikes on villages in Myaing and Pauk townships on September 16, including a noon strike on Ka Paing village northwest of Pauk Town, destroying several houses, but causing no casualties, according to the Pauk Township People’s Defence Team.At around 4am on September 16, two paramotors from the junta’s Pakokku Brigade 101 carried out airstrikes on villages in northwestern Pauk Township. The extent of the damage and other details are still being investigated, the Anyar Myay Coalition Force, a local resistance group, said in a recent statement.

Junta airstrikes kill 10 in Mandalay Region, including children and monks

Warplanes bombed villages, monasteries, and homes over two days, leaving families displaced and entire communities reeling

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