Two killed over three days of junta airstrikes near Wetlet, Sagaing Region

Two civilians were killed and four injured during a series of airstrikes on villages in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region, which began on Monday and continued for three days, resistance forces said. Junta aircraft and gyrocopters flying in from the Northwestern Regional Command Centre (RMC) in Monywa targeted the village of Ywar Thar Gyi—some seven miles southwest of Wetlet—with at least a dozen strikes starting on Monday morning. The military has been preoccupied with controlling Ywar Thar Gyi, located at the intersection of the Shwebo-Myitkyina and Wetlet-Monywa roads, since late 2022, when it carried out repeated attacks on the village before stationing a garrison of around 30 troops at the intersection. The recent airstrikes followed clashes between junta forces and locally based resistance forces. A man in his 70s reportedly died from shock during the airstrikes, and a child under 10 years old was reportedly hit by shrapnel and killed. Two other villagers also incurred severe injuries, according to members of the local People’s Defence Organisation (PDO). Three junta gyrocopters began bombing Ywar Thar Gyi at around 10am on Monday before carrying out two more attacks at noon. Junta fighter jets bombed the grounds of a monastery and pagoda in the centre of the village that evening. Members of a family that had been seeking shelter from the airstrikes in the monastery had briefly returned to the village intending to collect belongings they had left at home when the attack occurred late in the day. Three members of the family incurred injuries. “Four civilians who couldn't leave the village were hit. A child did not survive,” a Ywar Thar Gyi PDO officer said. “Three were from the same family: a married couple and a sister-in-law. They had been taking shelter at the monastery but went home as evening was approaching to gather some necessities. They were shot on the way.” After nightfall, junta forces based at a training outpost in the neighbouring Ayadaw Township fired on the village twice with heavy artillery. The following day, three gyrocopters launched attacks on the village from around 9:30am, continuing to strike through most of the day, with a fighter jet attacking again in the evening. Bomb found after junta airstrikes on the Tha Man Thar village school in Wetlet Township on October 14 (Photo: Spring Victory) Two more civilians were injured at the Tha Man Thar village school some 10 miles north of Ywar Thar Gyi when it came under another aerial attack on Tuesday afternoon, resistance sources said, and gyrocopters carried out another attack on Ywar Thar Gyi the following morning. Gyrocopters of the type deployed in the attacks on Wetlet Township usually fly in formations of three at a time, with two carrying out strikes while a third defends them from potential enemy fire, resistance fighters said. The military began using paramotors—propelled, manned paragliders—frequently for aerial attacks in late 2024, allowing them to avoid depleting their jet fuel supplies and save costs. The military has now also begun to deploy gyrocopters as another kind of alternative, light aircraft in their attacks. “When they send the gyrocopters up, three of them fly together. When they strike, they launch four bombs at a time,” a resistance fighter from Wetlet Township explained. “Their sound is also slow, their motion is slow… They're not very fast at all. The fighter jets are much faster.” A gyrocopter flies over a football match in Germany in 2020 (Photo: AFP) In the wake of the repeated attacks, residents of Ywar Thar Gyi and surrounding villages have fled their homes seeking safety in the woods, relatives’ homes, or other villages. “The difficulty now is that we can’t accommodate the displaced in monasteries and schools. When the junta forces bomb, they bomb those places," said a local man from Wetlet Township, who asked not to be identified. “So we just have to search for any place that’s available.” While resistance forces remain active in Wetlet Township, the junta controls the town centre and has established footholds in some outlying villages, including Ywar Thar Gyi. The recent airstrikes in Wetlet are part of a broader junta counteroffensive against the armed resistance in Myanmar, which includes ground operations in the neighbouring Sagaing Township, near the epicentre of a massive earthquake that took place in March. The military regime is planning to hold a general election in several phases this coming December and January this year, with Sagaing Township among the jurisdictions where the first phase of elections is scheduled.

Two killed over three days of junta airstrikes near Wetlet, Sagaing Region

The military used gyrocopters recently received at the Northwestern Regional Military Command in Monywa to conduct the aerial attack

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