Regime airstrikes kill nine in NUG-controlled Pinlebu Township

Nine people were killed and nine others injured when a junta airstrike targeted Sagaing Region’s Pinlebu Township—an area controlled by forces under the command of the National Unity Government (NUG)—on Sunday, according to resistance sources. A fighter jet that reportedly took off from Tada-U airbase near Mandalay conducted two strikes at around 11:30pm on Leikpoke, a village about 18 miles south of the town of Pinlebu. The explosions occurred in the eastern and central parts of the village. “There was no fighting, no military-related activity at all. They deliberately targeted a civilian residential area,” a member of the NUG’s People’s Defence Force told Myanmar Now. He added that those killed and injured were all civilians and did not include any members of the resistance forces. Further details about the victims were not available at the time of reporting. A source familiar with the local situation blamed the high casualty rate on the fact that few people living in the area were prepared for such an attack. “It was because no one here thought they would be attacked at a time like this, in a place where they didn’t expect to be targeted,” he said. Resistance forces captured the town of Pinlebu, located on the banks of the Mu River, in October 2024 after a months-long siege, and have since taken control of the rest of the township. Myanmar’s military has intensified its attacks on resistance-held territory across the country since holding elections that began at the end of last year. On Sunday, the same day as the attacks in Pinlebu, junta forces carried out a series of airstrikes in Magway Region’s Mindon Township that killed at least 25 people, including truck drivers, at a highway rest stop. Late last week, a series of airstrikes targeting a busy market in Sagaing Region’s Paungbyin Township, near the border with India, left around two dozen people injured. There were at least five mass casualty incidents reported across Myanmar last month, resulting in 48 confirmed deaths. These attacks targeted homes, monasteries sheltering war-displaced civilians, and public spaces such as restaurants and markets. Two attacks took place on February 5—one in Magway Region’s Saw Township that left five people dead and another in Sagaing Region’s Taze Township that claimed six lives, including that of a novice monk. On February 22, seven people were killed in an airstrike on a restaurant in Sagaing’s Homalin Township, and the next day, 10 people died in a gyrocopter attack in Myinmu Township, also in Sagaing. On the same day, bombs were dropped on a market in Rakhine State’s Ponnagyun Township, killing at least 18. Most of these attacks were unprovoked and served no strategic purpose, according to Zin Yaw, a former Myanmar army captain who defected to the resistance. “We believe they are just demonstrating their ability to kill people in an effort to terrorise them,” he said.

Regime airstrikes kill nine in NUG-controlled Pinlebu Township

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