Junta warplanes target civilians in Tanintharyi Region, injuring children

The Myanmar military bombed two townships in Tanintharyi Region on Monday, injuring seven people, including children, local residents said.The military airstrikes hit Kawtaw Village in Myeik Township around noon and Winkahpaw Village in Thayetchaung Township an hour later.Among the wounded in Winkahpaw were a 60-year-old woman, a 50-year-old man, and a 37-year-old man with his 10-year-old son, according to Kyauk Khae, a fighter from the Daung Nyinaung, also known as the Peacock Brothers Column, a resistance group. When junta warplanes targeted the village of Kawtaw, three people, including two children, were injured, according to local residents. However, detailed information about their condition is not yet available."Fortunately, nobody died. But four people were injured,” Kyauk Khae said, referencing the attack in Winkahpaw. “The bombs fell on the outskirts, so houses were somewhat spaced apart. They fell near a garden path by the village road. We also found bomb fragments near other uninhabited houses.”Local resistance fighters said the airstrikes appeared unprovoked, as there was no military activity in the area. They believe the attacks were meant to assert the regime’s ability to strike from the air at any time.Residents and social media users reported that three of the injured are women, with the children aged 12 and 14. Images from the scene showed damaged homes and trees.Kyauk Khae believes that a single aircraft conducted both attacks."There's a connection between the two attacks. We can speculate it might be the same aircraft,” he said. “It probably took off from Myeik military airfield and has been bombing throughout the area.”Located near the Thai-Myanmar border, the heavily forested Taku Village-tract is frequently targeted by the junta using airstrikes. On January 13, junta aircraft bombed locations near Taku hospital twice, injuring at least five locals.Tanintharyi Region, located at the southernmost tip of Myanmar along Union Highway 8—a key trade route between Thailand and Myanmar—is strategically crucial for both military and resistance forces.Anti-junta forces control Union Highway 8, but the military has been conducting operations along the Tanintharyi-Mawdaung route since late December, aiming to seize the border trading town of Mawdaung. Clashes have erupted, and the area remains contested.The fighting has pushed scores of residents from at least 13 villages in the area to flee.Resistance forces hold significant territory in Tanintharyi Region, home to five battalions under the National Unity Government’s (NUG) Ministry of Defense, Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 4, the Kawthoolei Army, and local People's Defense Forces (PDF).In January alone, the region saw at least 51 battles, seven mine attacks by resistance groups, and 27 junta airstrikes, displacing 77,200 people, according to a February 18 report by FE5 Tanintharyi, which tracks the conflict.

Junta warplanes target civilians in Tanintharyi Region, injuring children

Resistance fighters say the attacks were unprovoked, meant to showcase junta airpower

Subscribe for full access

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

Beyond Beijing’s reach, a new resistance alliance takes shape in Myanmar

Heavy fighting reported in Hpapun as resistance forces move to take last junta base

Six killed in junta airstrike on Thantlang as bombing intensifies in Chin State

Frontier Myanmar’s new foreign owner engaging with Myanmar military junta officials

Residents protest NUG gold mining ban in Sagaing’s Banmauk

More than 3,000 displaced by Myanmar junta raids in Magway’s Pwintbyu Township

KIA set to fully resume rare earth mining in captured ‘special region’

Myanmar junta airstrikes kill three civilians sheltering in Rakhine State monastery

Myanmar’s factories cling to life as power shortages persist

Bought Out or Seized: Mandalay farmers face impossible choices amid land grab

Myanmar junta partners with Chinese firm to build natural gas terminal despite Rakhine State conflict

Thai officials call on Myanmar regime to crack down on fraud, trafficking gangs on Thai-Karen State border

Myanmar military continues to lose ground to anti-junta forces in northern Shan State

Despite escalating violence, Myanmar junta leader says elections will proceed

NUG-founded bank set to sell shares to meet ‘emergency needs’

Myanmar’s junta bears ‘sole responsibility’ for Suu Kyi’s health—NLD

Karenni youth fight for freedom at the cost of their lives and limbs

The mothers of the Magway resistance

A Myanmar artist finds freedom behind bars—by portraying prisoners’ oppression

As Myanmar’s revolution beckons, a new breed of activist photographers heeds the call

The man behind the Myanmar junta’s campaign of terror in Sagaing

Authorities tighten restrictions on passport process for Myanmar nationals in Thailand

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles