Junta drone strike kills six civilians, including children in Bago Region’s Kyaukkyi Township

At least six civilians, including two children, were killed and two others wounded Saturday when Myanmar’s military launched a drone strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Bago Region’s Kyaukkyi Township, local resistance forces said.Two men, two women, and two children were killed when junta forces launched a drone strike on a school in Taw Kyaung Pauk village. Local resistance groups in Bago Region told Myanmar Now that the site was known to shelter displaced civilians. The two children who were killed in the attack were aged one and six. “Two bombs were dropped at around 5:00 pm—one of them exploded and caused civilian casualties,” a spokesperson from a Bago People Defense Force (PDF) group.Two women were also injured in the attack, with one reported in critical condition. Resistance forces alleged the strike deliberately targeted civilians and was launched by junta troops stationed in Nat Than Kwin village, a fortified base stationed about one mile south of Taw Kyaung Pauk. “The village lies within our territory, but there are no bases under our control in the village and no fighting nearby at the time of the attack,” the spokesperson said. The attack occurred near PDF Battalion No. 3702, a unit operating under the command of the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG). Although PDF forces are stationed in Kyaukkyi and Kyauktaga townships in Bago Region, there were no active clashes in the village at the time of the drone strike.The area is also under the control of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), one of Myanmar’s oldest and most prominent ethnic armed groups fighting against the military regime. Several junta outposts are located on a major route connecting Penwego, a small town in neighboring Kyauktaga Township and the village of Nat Than Kwin.Clashes broke out in Kyaukkyi last month as resistance forces, led by Karen ethnic armed groups, launched attacks on multiple junta outposts. The offensive resulted in the capture of more than a dozen of military troops on June 26, the NUG said in a statement.The junta has increasingly relied on drones and airstrikes as it loses ground to resistance forces on multiple fronts, particularly in central and southeastern Myanmar. Observers say the military’s aerial assaults, often targeting civilian areas, are part of a scorched-earth strategy aimed at terrorising communities suspected of supporting the resistance.Kyaukkyi Township, which lies along the border of Bago and Karen states, has seen repeated waves of displacement due to clashes between junta troops and KNLA-aligned forces. Local aid networks report that hundreds of civilians have fled to the jungle in recent weeks, with limited access to food, shelter, or medical care amid ongoing airstrikes and artillery fire.At least five people, including two children, were injured on June 28 when a junta warplane dropped bombs on the village of Hinthar Wea, located about seven miles south of Taw Kyaung Pauk.In May, a junta fighter jet bombed a wedding ceremony in Kyun Gyi village, about six miles south of Taw Kyaung Pauk, killing at least 12 people—including children—and wounding more than 30 others.

Junta drone strike kills six civilians, including children in Bago Region’s Kyaukkyi Township

The location targeted in the attack was known to serve as a shelter for displaced communities

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