Two killed, six injured in junta airstrikes southwest of Mandalay

Bombing raids by the junta air force killed at least two civilians and injured six on Tuesday in Mandalay Region’s Natogyi and Ngazun townships less than 100 miles southwest of Mandalay, resistance sources said. Junta fighters struck Ngan Myar village, Ngazun Township and Let Wea Myin Ni village, Natogyi Township shortly after 1pm, according to Wan Too, the leader of the resistance forces’ Myingyan District Battalion 1. Myingyan District is made up of Myingyan, Natogyi, Ngazun, and Taungtha townships. Myingyan District Battalion 1 is part of the People’s Defence Forces (PDF), the armed wing of the publicly mandated, anti-junta National Unity Government. The junta’s bombs hit a school in Ngan Myar, injuring three people and killing a man named Aung Thein and a woman called Daw Mya, both in their 70s, the resistance battalion commander told Myanmar Now. In Let Wea Myin Ni, the airstrikes injured three locals including two seven-year-old children, and the village monastery collapsed after being hit by junta bombs, a woman living in the village said. “Villagers were taking shelter from the fighting at the monastery. Two children under 10 were hit by bombs,” the Let Wea Myin Ni resident said. “One had to have a leg amputated, but the other's injuries were not serious,” she added. Junta reconnaissance aircraft had been circling over Let Wea Myin Ni since Monday evening, the night before the airstrikes took place, locals said. Wan Too called the killing of civilians and destruction of non-military targets such as schools and monasteries “inexcusable.” “They don’t have enough manpower for ground assaults, so they use the air force to threaten us. But there’s no justification for bombing civilian homes, monasteries, and schools,” he said. The regime is now deploying more ground troops to Myingyan District to regain control, which the PDF battalion commander took as a sign that there would be more airstrikes in the near future. He has urged locals to start building dugout bomb shelters to prepare. “They no longer have the capability to mount an overwhelming ground attack and burn down villages like before, so they are resorting to air raids,” he said. “That’s why I advised the public to dig bomb shelters and closely follow the resistance forces’ instructions.” However, according to a local resident, “The cost of making bomb shelters is too high for some, so many people have had to flee their homes and seek shelter elsewhere when they heard the planes coming.” “It’s not enough to dig a simple ditch,” the local resident added. “If you follow the model provided by the resistance forces, you need two layers of mangrove poles and sandbags for a proper shelter. If we can’t build it ourselves, hiring help would cost between 300,000 and 500,000 kyat (US $143 and $238), which many of us can’t afford.” Earlier this month, resistance forces launched an offensive they called the “Myingyan District special operation”, attacking junta outposts throughout Myingyan District and Tada-U Township southwest of Mandalay. A joint force of NUG-commanded resistance fighters and allied ethnic armed groups carried out the special operation. As of August 22, at least 20 of the military’s bases in Myingyan District and Tada-U Township have fallen to the anti-junta forces. However, the anti-junta forces have been unable to deploy fighters to hold the captured outposts due to limited manpower, and have torched the bases after capturing them instead. Following these attacks, the junta has intensified its aerial bombing in Natogyi and the surrounding villages, killing three civilians and injuring an elderly monk and at least two other civilians within a week. Previously, a 13-year-old girl was killed in a junta airstrike on Tan Saung village, Myingyan Township on August 17. The junta air force also struck a monastery in Taungtha Township and a village between Natogyi and Ngazun six days earlier. Since 2023, the military has lost control of broad swaths of territory in Rakhine and northern Shan states to anti-regime forces, which are now continuing to attack military positions in both the north and south of Mandalay Region, moving closer to Mandalay and the military stronghold of Pyin Oo Lwin.

Two killed, six injured in junta airstrikes southwest of Mandalay

The military has escalated airstrikes in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan District following an offensive ‘special operation’ carried out jointly by resistance forces and anti-junta ethnic armed groups in the area

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