100 people feared dead in Myanmar military air attacks
More than 100 people are feared to have been killed in Tuesday's airstrike by the Myanmar military, one of the deadliest so far in the civil war. Survivors told the media they have collected at least 80 bodies, but expect the toll to rise further.
The United Nations has condemned the attack, which targeted a village in the north-western Sagaing region.
The military has increasingly used air strikes against their opponents since seizing power in February 2021.
The spokesperson for the military junta, General Zaw Min Tun, told state television, 'yes, we launched the air strike'. He said they had chosen to attack Pa Zi Gyi because the village was holding a ceremony to mark the opening of an office for their local volunteer defence force.
These anti-coup militias, known as People's Defence Forces or PDFS, are waging an armed campaign against the military in various parts of Myanmar. Communities in Sagaing have put up some of the strongest opposition to military rule.
One villager in Pa Zi Gyi told the media that a military jet had flown over at about 07:00 local time (01:30 BST) on Tuesday and dropped a bomb directly onto the hall where community leaders were meeting, followed by a helicopter gunship which attacked the village for 20 minutes. Later, witnesses said, the aircraft returned and opened fire on those trying to collect the dead.
In October, at least 50 people were killed after air force jets dropped three bombs on a concert organised by an ethnic insurgent group in Kachin state. In the previous month, an airstrike on a school in the village of Let Yet Kone in central Myanmar killed at least five children and injured several others.
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