Two civilians killed as Myanmar junta escalates offensives north of Monywa

Myanmar’s military killed at least two civilians in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township this week as it launched major ground offensives and intensified aerial attacks in areas north of the region’s capital Monywa, according to local sources. Regime forces have been advancing into Budalin Township with hundreds of troops and armoured vehicles since May 16 in an effort to reassert territorial control in the resistance stronghold, residents said. Daily airstrikes have accompanied the operation. On Tuesday evening, two men, aged 19 and 25, were killed and four other civilians wounded when a gyrocopter opened fire on vehicles travelling north from Budalin to Saing Pyin in neighbouring Depayin Township, according to local sources. “They were fleeing along the Budalin-Saing Pyin road when an explosive landed on their car,” a resident of the area told Myanmar Now on Thursday. Earlier this week, resistance forces captured a police station in Saing Pyin, indicating their continuing strength in the area despite the regime’s growing military presence. Gyrocopters and paramotors, reportedly launched from the junta’s Northwestern Regional Military Command headquarters in Monywa, were also involved in attacks in northern Budalin Townships late last month. Kamikaze drones and fighter jets have also been deployed in the area in recent weeks, sources said. Fighting has also intensified in Kani Township, located opposite Budalin Township on the western side of the Chindwin River. Residents said military columns moving through the area since early May have arrested and killed civilians and burned farm huts in villages along the river. The violence has displaced thousands of civilians across the region. At least 10 villages along the main road through Budalin Township have been evacuated, while nearly 4,000 people have fled from 26 villages along the Monywa-Kani road, according to local residents. “When it comes to fleeing the war, we have gotten used to it,” a Budalin resident said. “If they come here, we dodge there; if they go there, we dodge here. It has been over five years now, after all.” Sagaing Region was one of the first parts of Myanmar to see armed conflict in the wake of the military’s February 2021 coup, and it remains one of the country’s main battlegrounds.

Two civilians killed as Myanmar junta escalates offensives north of Monywa

The victims were fleeing advancing regime forces when a gyrocopter dropped an explosive on their vehicle, sources said

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