Two killed in junta aerial assault on village near Bagan

A junta airstrike on a village near the ancient city of Bagan killed a resistance fighter and a schoolchild in Mandalay Region’s Nyaung-U Township on Saturday, according to local sources. The attack took place at around 3:35pm near a monastery and a school in the eastern part of Kyauk Pyin Kan, a village less than 10 miles south of Bagan, residents told Myanmar Now. “A 10-year-old boy and a 24-year-old resistance fighter died on the spot and three others were injured,” a man from the village said. “Two bombs struck the pagoda terrace, located between the football pitch and the village school. I was also nearby, taking cover on the ground,” he added. Some children were taking lessons near the pagoda at the time of the attack, according to a member of the Black Eagle People’s Defence Force, an anti-junta group operating in the area. “The children ran toward their homes when they heard the helicopters. Unfortunately, a 10-year-old boy was killed when bombs struck the compound,” the resistance fighter said. The resistance fighter who was killed was passing near the pagoda on a motorbike when he was hit in the head with a piece of shrapnel, he added. While residents claimed that two “combat helicopters” were used in the attack, a local air scout team said that the aircraft involved were actually gyrocopters. There were no reports of clashes near the village at the time of the junta bombardments on Saturday. Kyauk Pyin Kan is a village of around 500 households. Most residents support themselves by growing peanuts and making bamboo handicrafts. According to a resident of the village, most have fled the area since the attack. “We don’t have bomb shelters here as we have never faced this kind of aerial attack before. The only safety measure we know is to flee from our homes when junta soldiers arrive,” he said. Junta troops also carried out arson attacks on Kyauk Pyin Kan twice this year during raids on villages in southern Nyaung U Township, destroying at least 50 houses in total. Last month, two members of the People’s Democratic Army, a local resistance group, were killed in a short skirmish with a junta column dispatched from Gant Gar, a village near the outskirts of the Bagan UNESCO World Heritage site. Meanwhile, tensions have been high in the area since a seven-vehicle junta convoy arrived in Gant Gar recently, prompting residents of nearby villages to flee their homes, local sources said.

Two killed in junta aerial assault on village near Bagan

One of the victims was a 10-year-old boy who was among a group of children taking lessons at the time of the attack

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