The military launched airstrikes in western Kyunhla Township in Sagaing Region on Thursday morning in what locals said was an attempt to destroy People’s Defence Force (PDF) bases they believed to be located there.
Soldiers reportedly arrived by air in four helicopters and two jets starting at around 9am, with heavy weapons fired until the afternoon.
“They opened fire on the area from four helicopters. Some soldiers came out of those helicopters and started firing shells as well,” a Kyunhla resident told Myanmar Now, adding that they were aiming their fire toward the forests in western Kyunhla.
The local PDF did not retaliate, he said.
The air raids follow rumours that the military council would be escalating their attacks on northwestern Myanmar under an offensive known as “Operation Anawrahta.”
Locals from Kyunhla and neighbouring Taze Township speculated that the aircraft involved may have flown from Monywa, also in Sagaing, where the Northwestern Military Command headquarters are located.
Residents of the area fled the strikes, and at the time of reporting, it was not known if there were civilian casualties.
“Everything is in chaos,” the Kyunhla local said. “We had never been under attack. This was the first time.”
A local in Taze told Myanmar Now that the military also fired around 20 rounds of artillery from a helicopter near Sitha and Na Nwintaw villages in the northern part of the township, which borders Kyunhla.
Around 100 junta soldiers have been occupying Kar Paung Kya village in Taze since mid-October. Nearly the entire population of the village has fled as a result, with the troops torching homes in the community as well as huts on its outskirts where displaced locals had sought shelter.
Villagers from Kar Paung Kya said that on October 22 the military council sent ammunition and supplies by air to the soldiers based there.
PDF chapters based in Kyunhla and Taze are armed only with muskets traditionally used for hunting and weapons seized from the junta’s armed forces during clashes. They have employed ambushes and landmine attacks against the Myanmar army, which outguns them.
Armed resistance to the military council intensified after the shadow National Unity Government declared war on the junta on September 7.
The military also launched airstrikes on areas controlled by the Karen National Union in Karen State and Bago Region in March, killing at least 20 people and displacing tens of thousands.
