Seven civilians killed in Myanmar junta attack north of Mandalay

Seven people were killed in a village just north of Mandalay on Saturday after they were hit by a junta airstrike while they were sleeping, according to local sources. The attack took place in Aung Chan Thar, a village located between Myanmar’s second-largest city and Madaya Township, where regime and resistance forces have been engaged in fierce clashes for months. “They were bombed even though there was no fighting. All seven killed were members of the same family,” said a local man who spoke to Myanmar Now on Monday. There were also reports of airstrikes in the western part of Madaya Township on Sunday night, although there were no confirmed casualties. Junta attacks have taken a heavy toll on civilians living north of Mandalay over the past month, including among those displaced by the conflict. On October 21, just five days before the attack on Aung Chan Thar, an airstrike on the village of Mwe Tha Laing, about 20 miles to the north, left a 28-year-old woman and her one-year-old child dead. Ten days before that incident, an airstrike on a camp for internally displaced persons in Waw Su, another village in Madaya Township, killed 12 civilians, including three monks and a child. There were also a number of deadly incidents in late September, including one on September 21 that killed two women and four children in the village of Thon Se Pay. Three days earlier, three civilians were killed by junta shelling in the same village, located on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady river about nine miles northwest of Aung Chan Thar. At least 10,000 people have fled their homes in Madaya Township since the Mandalay People’s Defence Force (MDY-PDF) launched an offensive there in late June, according to a woman involved in efforts to assist the displaced. “Some have found shelter with relatives in nearby towns or villages, but there are also many moving from one village to another, constantly seeking food and safety,” she said. According to MDY-PDF spokesperson Ko Osmond, fighting has intensified as the military attempts to reclaim territory held by local resistance forces in Madaya. In addition to air and artillery attacks, the junta has also launched ground offensives in the area, he added.

Seven civilians killed in Myanmar junta attack north of Mandalay

The victims were all members of the same family, and among dozens killed in the area over the past month

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