Myanmar junta airstrike in Paletwa kills five and injures 17, including children

The Myanmar military carried out an airstrike on a village in Paletwa Township, Chin State, on Monday killing five residents, including two children, and injuring 17 others, according to locals. The junta dropped four bombs on Sein Nyin Wa, a village located about 13 miles south of the town of Paletwa, destroying a monastery, a religious hall, a Buddhist ordination hall, a granary, and 19 houses, a Paletwa resident said. “They were studying inside the religious hall in the monastery compound. When the bomb dropped there, male and female students were killed and injured. Because it also fell into the village, elderly people were affected, too,” the source said. The five people killed in the attack were confirmed as one-year-old Htet Myat Kyaw, 10-year-old Myat Kyaw Naing, San Htway Khine, 71, Hla Sein, 46, and Tun Sein, 36. Among the 17 others injured, eight were children. Two of the injured remain in a critical condition. A relative of one of the injured children said that the regime had specifically targeted civilian-inhabited areas. “People right now are living in fear of the air danger. They are scared even when hearing the sound of cars or motorcycles, not knowing if it’s the sound of an airplane,” he said. “This action is an inhumane act. Everyone has a family. Everyone has a community. If something were to happen to one’s own children, they should be able to understand and feel like a human.” A Kyauktaw resident echoed the sentiment, stating that the junta lacked human compassion. “The current situation is very much related to military and political matters. On the [military] side, the people managing military operations have no ethics. In warfare, there are military ethics. [The junta] has neither military ethics nor human compassion,” the woman said. “That’s why innocent civilians are being killed and harmed in various ways.” Two children injured in the airstrike on the village of Sein Nyin Wa in Paletwa Township on August 24 (Photo: Supplied) Since the start of the year, the junta has conducted increasingly frequent airstrikes on areas controlled by the Arakan Army (AA), including Paletwa Township in Chin State, as well as 14 townships in neighbouring Rakhine State, resulting in significant civilian casualties. On August 12, the regime bombed Samee town, also in Paletwa Township, killing a 16-year-old girl and injuring seven others. The junta has been carrying out almost daily airstrikes in AA-controlled Gwa and Thandwe townships in southern Rakhine State. At midnight on August 21, 10 regime aircraft bombed areas surrounding former junta battalion bases and civilian-inhabited areas in Ngapali, Thandwe Township, killing one civilian and injuring 22 others. The Myanmar junta has released no news regarding battle conditions or attacks affecting civilians in AA-controlled areas.

Myanmar junta airstrike in Paletwa kills five and injures 17, including children

The airstrike targeted a monastery in rural Chin State, destroying several buildings and leaving many children among the dead and injured

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