Three civilians killed as Myanmar junta continues airstrikes across Mandalay Region

Airstrikes by Myanmar’s military have killed at least three civilians across Mandalay Region in recent days, as the country’s regime continues to target areas controlled by resistance forces. At around noon on Wednesday, the junta dropped bombs on two villages in Thabeikkyin Township where dozens died in similar strikes last month. The attack on the neighbouring villages of Yaehtwet and Leikkya left one person dead and nine injured, according to a man living in the area. “Seven men and three women were injured. One of the men has died. About five houses were destroyed,” said the man, speaking to Myanmar Now on Thursday. On April 19, the junta launched an airstrike on the busy central market area of Yaehtwet, killing more than 40 locals, including children and infants, with many others injured. In Leikkya, at least 13 people were killed during three consecutive days of airstrikes that began on April 16, the last day of Myanmar’s Thingyan festival. According to an official of the anti-junta Pyin Oo Lwin People’s Defence Organisation (PDO), the regime carried out a total of 20 airstrikes in Thabeikkyin in April, killing at least 50 civilians. “They’re dropping bombs because they want to retake territory under our control in the Yaehtwet area of Thabeikkyin,” said the Pyin Oo Lwin District PDO’s information officer. The junta has also been launching airstrikes on residential areas, schools, and villages in other resistance-controlled areas of northern Mandalay Region on a daily basis in recent months, including in Singu, Mogok, and Madaya townships. Other areas south of Mandalay have also been hit, despite the junta’s recent extension of a ceasefire that it first declared early last month, in the wake of a deadly earthquake that devastated much of central Myanmar, including its second-largest city. On Tuesday, an airstrike on a village in Natogyi Township, southwest of Mandalay, left two civilians dead and four others injured, according to resistance sources. The attack occurred at around 2pm, when a junta aircraft dropped three bombs on Manlel, a village located in the southwestern part of the township on the Natogyi-Taungtha road. “A fighter jet circled the village for about 20 minutes, dropping three bombs. It also fired light and heavy weapons. But most of the casualties were from the bombing,” said Moe, commander of the Natogyi PDO. Manlel is located near Letwea-Myinni, a village regarded as a resistance stronghold. Both villages have been previously targeted. On April 11, an artillery attack on Letwea-Myinni, carried out by junta troops stationed in the town of Myingyan, killed an 82-year-old man. Last week, on April 29, airstrikes on the villages of Nabemyit and Magyikone in Natogyi Township left four residents injured, according to the Natogyi Journal, a local news outlet. Airstrikes have also been reported in neighbouring Taungtha Township, including one on April 18 that killed three women and injured six others in the village of Nante, and another on April 25 that severely injured a woman in the village of Magyipintae and destroyed seven homes. According to data released on Tuesday by the National Unity Government’s Ministry of Human Rights, the junta carried out a total of 200 airstrikes throughout the country between March 28, when the earthquake struck, and May 2, killing more than 270 civilians and injuring more than 450 others.

Three civilians killed as Myanmar junta continues airstrikes across Mandalay Region

The regime’s attacks on civilians targets in resistance-controlled territory come despite its recent extension of a ceasefire that it declared early last month

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