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

Airstrikes carried out by Myanmar’s military in Sagaing Region’s Pale Township on Tuesday killed at least seven people, including elderly civilians, as junta troops continued advancing into the area, according to local residents.The attacks come just one day after the regime launched repeated airstrikes across the township on Wednesday.Sources say that at around 1pm, the military carried out the strikes on Chin Pyit village—where many of its troops are stationed—and nearby Pi Tauk Kone village, killing an elderly, bedridden couple and destroying at least 10 homes. “The elderly woman was paralysed, so the couple could not escape,” a displaced resident of Pale Township told Myanmar Now. “Someone who returned to the village to check on the elderly couple discovered that two bombs struck multiple houses in the area, killing the couple.” At around 9pm, a junta gyrocopter strike hit Mu Yoe Tone village, killing five people—including a seven-year-old girl—and injuring three others, residents said. The villages targeted by the airstrikes, including Chin Pyit, lie within a five-mile radius. Further gyrocopter strikes followed at around 6am on Thursday, when bombs hit Mon Thwin village east of Chin Pyit, setting a house on fire. “Gyrocopter strikes have been ongoing since last night,” a resistance fighter from Pale Township said. “They’ve been hitting the villages in addition to the combat zones.”Local resistance forces intercepted a junta column advancing into villages formerly held by the Burma National Revolution Army (BNRA), in northern Pale Township on February 28, triggering intense airstrikes.“The battle is still ongoing, and the enemy has been launching airstrikes for a week due to their heavy losses,” the resistance fighter said.Clashes and airstrikes have forced hundreds of civilians from at least 12 villages in Yinmarbin District, including several in northern Pale Township, to flee their homes.Resistance forces control most rural areas of the township near the Magway Region border, while the military holds mainly the town centre. After clashes earlier this year with other anti-junta groups, Bo Nagar—the leader of the Burma National Revolution Army (BNRA), a local resistance force that had operated in parts of northern Pale Township—defected to the military along with five of his senior fighters. Since then, around 300 junta troops have advanced into Pale Township, backed by repeated airstrikes. Across Myanmar, the military has also stepped up aerial attacks since the election period. Airstrikes in February caused several mass-casualty incidents in Sagaing, Magway and Rakhine, while strikes in Mindon and Pinlebu on March 1 killed at least three dozen people.Data from the National Unity Governments’ Ministry of Human Rights show that junta airstrikes killed 302 people and injured 565 between early January and the end of February this year.

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

Attacks targeting villages killed an elderly couple and a child as Myanmar military troops advanced into the resistance-held area

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