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Junta airstrikes in northwestern Myanmar killed more than 30 civilians, including an entire family, residents and officials told Radio Free Asia on Thursday.
Despite a junta-declared ceasefire on April 2 following a devastating earthquake in central Myanmar, clashes have continued between military troops and rebel militias that have claimed increasing amounts of territory following the country’s 2021 coup.
On Wednesday evening, airstrikes on northern Sagaing region’s Wuntho township resulted in heavy civilian casualties, said Nay Bone Latt, a spokesperson for exiled National Unity Government, or NUG.
“The latest we know is that, including women and children, 26 people are dead and 23 are injured,” he said of the attack on an intersection in Nan Khan village. The junta had targeted a police checkpoint occupied by soldiers under the NUG’s Ministry of Defense, he said.
Recent rebel victories in Chin state and Sagaing region, hotspots for ethnic armies and militias aligned with the country’s exiled civilian government, may have contributed to retaliation from junta forces. Nan Khan village is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Indaw town, which the NUG’s militia captured on Monday.
The NUG has not released any information about soldier casualties from the attack.
The checkpoint is inside the village, resulting in heavy civilian losses, said a resident.
“The plane bombing the People’s Defense Force gate. It’s at an intersection in the village, so it affected the public entirely,” he said, declining to be named for security reasons. “Some are still dying after reaching the hospital. We don’t have any other details yet.”
The junta has not released any information on the attack. Spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun did not respond to calls.
Despite ceasefires declared by the junta and the National Unity Government following the March 28 earthquake, both have launched military attacks and accused the other of breaking temporary peace declarations.
However, only junta airstrikes have caused heavy civilian losses in the wake of the natural disaster, killing six children, 30 women and 34 men, according to information released on Thursday.
To Sagaing’s west, junta airstrikes launched in Chin state’s Tedim and Mindat townships killed 12 people, including a Christian pastor, residents told RFA.
“There was no fighting. Yesterday around 12 at night, they bombed houses in Saizang village with a 500-pound bomb,” said a Tedim resident, declining to be named for fear of reprisals. “The house it hit belonged to a family of six, who died when the house collapsed.”
The victims included a 43 and 40-year-old husband and wife, their 17, 14 and five-year-old sons and a 10-year-old daughter. Another son, aged 10, was hospitalized with severe injuries.
To Tedim’s south, airstrikes on rebel-controlled Mindat township’s Phwi village at 9 p.m. killed another six people, residents said.
“Just one plane came shooting twice and then dropped two 500-pound bombs. Among those killed are a Christian pastor, children and the elderly,” said a Mindat resident. “Of the nine people injured, three are critical.”
The dead were identified as an eight-month-old boy, two seven-year-old children, a 68-year-old man, a 72-year-old woman, a 38-year-old disabled man, and a pastor, who was 36 years old.
RFA called Chin state’s junta spokesperson Aung Cho for more information on the attacks, but he did not respond by the time of publication.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.