Junta airstrikes kill a dozen civilians in Magway Region, Mandalay Region, and Karenni State

Bombing by Myanmar’s air force killed at least 12 people and injured 15 on Wednesday in anti-junta strongholds in Mandalay Region, Magway Region, and Karenni State, according to local sources. The areas targeted in the aerial attacks were all strongholds of anti-junta resistance forces or armed groups. A junta warplane bombed residential areas on the east side of Mogok—a ruby-mining hub in Mandalay Region controlled by the anti-junta Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) since last year—killing three children and two men. “Two 12-year-old boys died on the spot,” said a 25-year-old Mogok resident. “Some of the injured are in critical condition.” “The military has been bombing Mogok for two days in a row, even on the Full Moon Day of Waso, the Uposatha day for Buddhists,” he added, referring to the beginning of Buddhist lent observed by Myanmar’s religious majority. The death toll climbed to five on Thursday afternoon, when another child and two men died at the hospital from injuries sustained in the air raid. Details about the ages and identities of the victim are unconfirmed. According to the TNLA, at least eight people including two children sustained injuries and seven houses were damaged in the attack, which occurred around 8pm Wednesday evening. The military regime had also bombed the west side of Mogok two days earlier, killing at least two women and one man, injuring eight others. The regime air force also bombed a village in Karenni (Kayah) State’s Hpasawng Township on Wednesday, killing at least five people including two children. Damage from the junta air force’s attack on a village in Hpasawng Township, Karenni (Kayah) State on July 8 (Photo: Supplied) “Bombs landed near a church in Loe Law Htee village,” said Banya Khung Aung, secretary of Karenni Interim Executive Council. “The deceased were a man, two women and two girls, aged three and eight, all from the same family.” At least five people including three children were also wounded in the attack, which occurred at around 7:35pm. The village targeted in the strike is around 12 miles northeast of Hpasawng, where Karenni resistance forces have been trying to seize the last remaining junta base in the town since last month. Seven houses and a church were damaged in the attack. Eight people were killed last month in Hpasawng Township when a junta plane bombed a small-scale tungsten-mining site operated by civilians in Mawchi some 15 miles northeast of Hpasawng. Junta airstrikes also killed two civilians in Magway Region’s Myaing Township at around 8pm on Wednesday, according to local sources. Bombs struck a house on the outskirts of Tha Nat Yin village some 15 miles northwest of the junta-controlled town of Myaing, they said. “A two-year-old boy and his uncle in his 30s died instantly at the scene, and five others were wounded,” said a man connected to the resistance in Myaing Township. Tha Nat Yin, which is made up of about 300 households, has become a refuge for displaced people forced to flee their homes in Myaing’s urban wards, according to locals. A junta aerial assault that occurred earlier the same evening did not result in any reported casualties. The Myanmar military regime’s warplanes often target villages located along the major highway connecting the towns of Pakokku, Myaing, and Gangaw in Magway Region.

Junta airstrikes kill a dozen civilians in Magway Region, Mandalay Region, and Karenni State

The air force’s targets included the TNLA-controlled town of Mogok, Mandalay Region as well as sites of recent fighting and a village sheltering displaced civilians

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