Burma: an air attack attributed to the junta leaves dozens dead

The bombing of the village of Pazigyi in Burma, April 11, 2023. © Kyunhla Activists Group via AP

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At least 50 people were killed on Tuesday (April 11th) in an air attack attributed to the Burmese army, in the center of the country, plagued by a violent civil conflict, according to local media and AFP.

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The BBC's Burmese service, The Irrawaddy and Radio Free Asia reported airstrikes on the village of Pazi Gyi, in Kantbalu district, north of Mandalay. They said at least fifty people had been killed, but the death toll could be as high as 100, according to a rescue worker from an armed rebel group. The BBC mentions the presence of at least fifteen women and children among the victims. There would also be about twenty wounded, according to this source.

The attack reportedly took place around 7 a.m. local time (0:30 GMT). A villager contacted by the BBC reports that it was carried out by a fighter jet followed by a helicopter. At the time of the attack, several dozen people had gathered to open an office of a group of the local defence forces. The "Government of National Unity" (NUG), a body founded by former MPs from Aung San Suu Kyi's party, mostly in exile, denounced it as "yet another example of the indiscriminate use of extreme force against innocent civilians." "The Burmese junta continues to commit atrocities," insists Mahn Win Khaing Than, Prime Minister of the NUG.

Heartbroken by the latest aerial massacre in Sagaing. The Myanmar junta continues to commit brutal atrocities, killing at least 50, including children. I implore the UN: how many more massacres must occur before you take action? How much longer will our people suffer under this? pic.twitter.com/ya3XGS1J77

— Mahn Winn Khine Thann (@MahnWinnKhine) April 11, 2023

In October, about 50 people were killed in a Burmese air force attack at a concert organized by a large ethnic rebel group in Kachin State.

Burma has been riven by a violent conflict between the junta and its opponents since the February 1, 2021 coup, which overthrew civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burmese military is banking on its air advantage, thanks to its Russian- and Chinese-made jets, to compensate for its difficulties on the ground, facing rebel groups that control parts of the country. The United Nations counted more than 600 military airstrikes from February 2021 to January 2023, as well as several incidents involving civilian casualties.

► Read also: Chronology - Burma: the impossible democracy

(

And with AFP)

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  • Burma
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