Myanmar regime targets convoy in Sagaing, killing at least 16

At least 16 people, including six truck drivers, were killed on Monday when Myanmar’s military carried out a series of airstrikes on a convoy of transport vehicles north of the city of Sagaing, according to sources. The vehicles, including several fuel tankers, were stopped near the village of Taungyin, on the road linking Sagaing to the town of Shwebo, when they came under attack, the sources said. “Two aircraft came twice. The first time was at around 2:40pm. They fired for about 20 minutes. Then they came back again at around 3:40pm. The second time it was like they were waiting to target those coming to collect the bodies,” said a member of the Sagaing Township People’s Administration Organisation. Fires ignited by the explosion of the fuel tankers injured nearly 20 people in the vicinity, including two monks, according to a man living in the area. “Six drivers and a civilian died. We had to bury their bodies right there. Some had their heads blown off. One of the monks lost his arm. The other was hit in the thigh,” the man said late Monday. By Tuesday afternoon, rescue workers said they had discovered the charred remains of at least nine other victims at nearby food stalls that had caught fire during the attacks. Due to recent junta offensives in the area, cargo trucks and other vehicles have been stranded on sections of the Sagaing-Shwebo road for the past two weeks, sources told Myanmar Now. According to a local resistance fighter, the road remained blocked as of Tuesday morning and continues to come under heavy fire from regime forces. “In addition to airstrikes, they are firing with long-range heavy weapons. Troops near Ohntaw have been firing continuously, so it has become very difficult to move from one place to another,” he said, referring to a village about 10 miles north of Sagaing. A junta column with two armoured vehicles has been active near Ohntaw for about two months, according to resistance sources. The column has reportedly destroyed several villages in the area, although information regarding the extent of the damage was not available. On Tuesday, another army column was seen leaving Sagaing and entering Sagyin, a village about five miles north of the city, firing small arms, according to local news outlets. Much of the population of Sagaing Township has been displaced in recent months, both by the conflict and by a deadly earthquake that struck the area on March 28. As part of its offensive, the regime has tightened restrictions on the flow of goods into resistance-held areas from Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city. Mandalay lies just east of Sagaing, on the opposite side of the Ayeyarwady River. Earlier this month, the regime launched a coordinated offensive across 10 townships in Sagaing Region, including Sagaing Township.

Myanmar regime targets convoy in Sagaing, killing at least 16

The attack by two junta aircraft comes amid an intensifying offensive against resistance forces across Sagaing Region

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