Members of local resistance forces speculate that the area is being targeted by the junta to secure safe passage of supplies to their bases in neighbouring townships
There were also reports of local civilians being taken hostage by regime ground troops operating in the area
The attack was the third carried out by the junta on a village in the southern Karenni State township since last month
The attack comes less than a month after a similar aerial assault by regime forces killed 170 people, including dozens of children
The attack on the village follows a meeting between the MNDAA and residents which the Myanmar army may have assumed was as a discussion of military action