Three civilians killed in junta airstrikes near Sagaing Region’s border with India

The junta bombed the town of Khampat in Sagaing Region early on Monday morning, as well as villages in Kalay Township around 15 miles south, killing three people and injuring several more, according to local sources. At around 2am, military aircraft struck Khampat, which is under the control of the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) and located in Tamu Township near the Indian border. The casualties were identified as 18-year-old Kyein Shint Nwam and 38-year-old Paung Lein Htang, residents of the town’s first ward. “Around two bombs fell in Ward 1—when the bombs fell, the bodies were blown away by the force of the explosion,” a resident of Khampat told Myanmar Now, noting that the individuals were from different households. Another airstrike at the same time targeted the village of Saw Bwar Ye Shin, on the road connecting the town of Kalay with Tamu, as well as the adjacent community of Zolin. One resident of Saw Bwar Ye Shin was confirmed dead—40-year-old Ngai Shan Lun—and six others wounded. Three elderly people from Khampat’s sparsely populated Nan Sanpya ward were also injured in the attack, volunteers assisting the victims said. Locals from the areas targeted on Monday said that the military had been conducting assaults in northern Kalay Township in recent days despite there being no clashes with resistance forces. “There wasn’t any prior conflict but they dropped bombs in the night,” a resident from Kanan, a village next to Khampat, said. “We knew we were experiencing an airstrike when our houses shook from the blasts that followed the sound of the airplanes.” In early January, the junta conducted an airstrike on Kanan that killed 17 civilians, including nine children. Forces under the NUG seized the towns of Kawlin, Khampat, Mawlu and Shwe Pyi Aye in Sagaing in late 2023, with the junta only managing to retake Kawlin. While the military has cut back on ground attacks attempting to overrun the other locations, aerial assaults have increased, particularly around Khampat. According to locals, some 500 residents of neighbouring Kalay Township have sought refuge in Khampat in recent months due to the threat of further Myanmar army attacks.

Three civilians killed in junta airstrikes near Sagaing Region’s border with India

Myanmar military aircraft bomb the town of Khampat—which is under the control of the National Unity Government—in an assault on an area that has not seen recent clashes

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