Myanmar junta airstrikes across Sagaing kill at least four civilians, including children

At least four civilians, including two children, were killed Monday as Myanmar’s military carried out a series of airstrikes in Sagaing Region, targeting a school, a monastery, and residential areas in two townships. In Khin-U Township, a military jet bombed a school sheltering displaced civilians in the village of Konegyi at around 8pm, killing three members of the same family and injuring at least 10 others, including a seven-year-old child, sources said. The victims were a man in his 60s and his two adult children. All three had fled fighting in Mandalay Region and were living in makeshift shelters erected against the front wall of the school. Most of the injured were also from the same family, according to a survivor who was related to the deceased. “We hadn’t gone to sleep yet, but everyone was already lying down. We heard the sound of an aircraft and were telling each other to turn off our phone lights when the bomb fell and exploded,” said the man, who was also injured. He added that the location of the assault appeared to have been deliberately identified before the strike. “Before the bombing, a motorbike stopped in front of our shelter. One person was talking on the phone and shining a torch at our tent. I heard him say, ‘Do you see the light? Yes, that place,’ and then they rode away,” he said. “Not long after that, the aircraft arrived.” A child looks at wreckage from an airstrike targeting a school in Sagaing Region’s Khin-U Township on January 5 (Photo: Moe Oo / Myanmar Now) Earlier the same day, airstrikes also hit four locations in and around Katha, a town further north in Sagaing Region, killing an 11-year-old child and damaging homes and a Buddhist monastery, residents said. The attacks began at around 2pm, when bombs were dropped on the monastery, located at the southern edge of the town, as well as on two nearby villages—Natkyi Kone to the north and Thein Inn, about three miles to the south. At around 5pm, three more bombs were dropped near a high school in Katha’s Ward 5, residents said. “Smoke was rising everywhere—from the monastery and from Thein Inn and Natkyi Kone,” said a local man. “After bombing Natkyi Kone, the aircraft also fired machine guns from the air.” The mother of the child who was killed by shrapnel from a bomb that fell on Natkyi Kone also suffered serious injuries, while at least four homes were destroyed by fire in the village, a resident told Myanmar Now. “There was no fighting at the time,” the resident added. “They just came and bombed.” Katha has seen heavy fighting since December 28, when resistance forces aligned with the National Unity Government, alongside members of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, the Kachin Independence Army, and other allied groups, launched attacks on junta positions. Although clashes have eased in recent days, residents said the military has continued to carry out near-daily airstrikes. Most of the town’s population has fled, but hundreds of displaced civilians are believed to be trapped in Ward 6 alongside junta troops. Residents reported that a military helicopter briefly landed inside the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 309 compound north of the town on both Monday and Tuesday, possibly to transport wounded soldiers or senior officers, though this could not be independently confirmed. During a week of intense fighting, resistance forces seized several neighbourhoods in northern and western Katha, while the military retained control of the battalion base and parts of the town centre. Katha, located on the western bank of the Ayeyarwady River near the Sagaing-Kachin border, is considered strategically important due to its road and river access to Kachin State. According to the 2014 census, the town has a population of more than 160,000. Residents said the latest attacks form part of a broader escalation of airstrikes targeting displacement sites across Sagaing Region, where tens of thousands of civilians have fled following the military’s recent recapture of several townships in Mandalay Region. After regaining control of Madaya, Singu, Thabeikkyin, and Mogok in November, junta forces pushed across the Ayeyarwady River, triggering mass displacement into Sagaing. Since then, airstrikes have been carried out almost daily, killing nearly 90 civilians over the past month, according to residents and local aid groups. On Monday night, residents reported seeing fighter jets taking off from Tada-U airbase near Mandalay and the Meiktila airbase some 90 miles to the south. The aircraft are believed to have been used to carry out airstrikes in Khin-U, Kyunhla, and Katha townships. Resistance forces have captured several towns in Sagaing Region over the past two years, including Banmauk, Indaw, Mawlu, Pinlebu, Khamti, Myothit and Shwe Pyi Aye, but continue to face sustained air assaults from the military.

Myanmar junta airstrikes across Sagaing kill at least four civilians, including children

Bombs hit a school sheltering displaced families, a Buddhist monastery, and residential areas in Khin-U and Katha townships

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