A junta airstrike on an elementary school in eastern Myanmar’s Kayah state left four children dead and 10 others injured on Monday, according to members of a local anti-junta People’s Defense Force.
A military junta jet appeared to drop a 500-pound bomb while children were inside the school at about 10 a.m., several members of a People’s Defense Force, or PDF, told Radio Free Asia.
The explosion took place in Daw Si Ei village of western Demoso township.
The four children killed were between 10 and 13 years old, a PDF member told RFA. The 10 who were injured were also children, he said.
Demoso township has seen increased fighting since ethnic Karenni forces and PDF paramilitaries began a coordinated offensive against the military on Nov. 11 in an attack that’s been dubbed “Operation 1111.”
Junta-affiliated media outlets said on Monday that reports of an airstrike in Demoso township on Monday were false.
RFA’s attempts to contact the junta’s spokesperson for Kayah state, Zarni Maung, for his comments on the bombing of the school were unsuccessful.
Junta’s ground losses
Monday’s airstrike was the latest junta bombing that appeared to have targeted civilians.
Since the February 2021 military coup d’etat until the end of last month, a total of 1,429 people have been killed and 2,641 injured by junta airstrikes and artillery attacks, according to data compiled by RFA.
The figures include 149 civilians killed and 267 injured in January.
Junta commanders have increasingly turned to air attacks as resistance forces see more success on the ground, according to Kyaw Zaw, the spokesperson of the shadow National Unity Government’s President’s Office.
“The army has suffered losses in the battles. Moreover, tens of thousands of their soldiers have deserted and fled,” he told RFA. “At the same time, forces of the military council are committing more brutalities against civilians in accordance with the orders of a handful of senior generals.”
During the first year of the coup – between Feb. 1, 2021, and Jan. 31, 2022 – 109 civilians were killed and 177 were injured by airstrikes and artillery attacks.
During the second year of the junta’s post-coup regime, the number of civilian casualties increased almost four times to 328 killed and 768 injured.
In the third year – between Feb. 1, 2023, and Jan. 31, 2024 – 992 people were killed and 1,696 were injured.
Region by region
The number of armed conflicts in northern Shan state with the junta fell last month after a China-brokered ceasefire was put in place. But junta air attacks in Rakhine state and the Sagaing, Magway and Bago regions significantly increased, PDF members and residents said.
The junta attacked villages in Seik Phyu township in Magway on Jan. 29, injuring three civilians, a local villager said.
“Four villages were bombed by airplanes,” the villager said. “Machine guns were used in the aerial attacks.”
The highest civilian death in January took place in Rakhine, where 35 civilians were killed and 76 were injured.
The second highest figures were in Sagaing, with 37 deaths and 55 injured, followed by Shan state with 27 civilians casualties and 36 injured.
RFA attempted to contact regime spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun to ask about the aerial attacks, but he was unavailable.
Junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said on Saturday that the aerial and artillery attacks are effective ways of defeating resistance forces. He made similar remarks on Dec. 15.
Last week, the junta extended emergency rule in Myanmar for another six months, thereby delaying the date by which elections must be held according to the country’s constitution.
A political analyst who asked for anonymity for security reasons predicted more bombings over the next six months as the junta becomes more aggressive in suppressing resistance forces with the aim of conducting a national census by the end of the year.
A census would be a first step toward holding a general election.
Translated by Aung Ning. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.