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At least 12 people died in a Myanmar junta bombing on an anti-coup fighter-held village, a local administrative official claimed, adding that the bombardment targeted residential areas.
In a 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military took control of the country, sparking a bloody civil war. According to observers, the beleaguered junta is increasingly targeting civilians with airstrikes.
The village of Letpanhla was struck on Friday afternoon, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Mandalay, the second-largest city in the nation.
The People’s Defence Forces (PDF), anti-coup guerrillas who took up arms when the military overthrew the nation’s civilian government four years ago, control the village in Singu Township.
The local administrative officer, who wished to remain anonymous, stated, “They dropped bombs on crowded areas, which resulted in the deaths of many people. It happened at the time people were going to the market.
“We’re currently making a list and have registered 12 people killed.”
A junta spokesperson was unavailable for comment, and AFP was unable to confirm the number of fatalities independently. There had been 27 fatalities, according to the local PDF unit.
– Wails of grief –
62-year-old witness Myint Soe claimed that he attempted to hide as a plane arrived for a bombing run.
“I heard huge bomb blast sounds at the same time I was hiding,” he stated. “When I came out and looked at the market area, I saw it was on fire.”
People wearing civilian clothes and camouflage uniforms extinguished the fire with water, causing buildings that looked like residences and restaurants to catch fire in the aftermath.
A man wearing the PDF insignia on his uniform placed the limp body of a toddler with a gory head wound into the back of an ambulance.
There were cries of sorrow as some people in the crowd looked up into the sky.
A patchwork of anti-coup partisans, ethnic armed groups, and junta forces currently rule Myanmar.
Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), a non-profit organisation, reports that the number of military airstrikes against civilians has increased annually during the civil conflict, reaching about 800 in 2024.
That number more than tripled from the year before, and ACLED said the junta will keep using airstrikes because it is “under increasing military pressure on the ground.”
“The military will persevere in its indiscriminate aerial attacks on civilian-populated areas to undermine the opposition’s support base and destroy their morale,” it stated back in December.
An offensive by a coalition of armed ethnic groups in late 2023 inflicted stinging territorial losses on the junta.
However, analysts argue that the Myanmar air force, which is technically supported by Russia, has played a crucial role in repelling its mostly borderland-based enemies.
Currently, half of the population lives in poverty, and over 3.5 million people are displaced.
