A series of airstrikes on a village in Myanmar’s Sagaing region have killed 100 people. That writes AP news agency based on local media. The attacks allegedly took place during the opening ceremony of an opposition coalition-run council office in the village.
Local media reports that fighter jets from the military junta dropped two bombs and then opened fire on the crowd present. Many women and children are said to be among the dead. If confirmed independently, the death language would be the deadliest escalation of violence since the coup in Myanmar began two years ago.
Amnesty International has the violence in a comment convicted. “Illegal airstrikes that kill and injure civilians and destroy homes are a trademark of the Myanmar military, which goes to great lengths to break resistance and instill fear in the population,” the organization writes. “The citizens of Myanmar are victims of these sickening tactics.” Amnesty is calling on countries to stop exporting jet fuel to Myanmar so that the army can no longer carry out airstrikes.
In recent days, fighting between anti-government militias and the national army has flared up in several places in Myanmar, forcing thousands of Myanmarese to flee to Thailand. Since the army took power in 2021, demonstrators, ethnic minorities and opposition parties have taken up arms and armed resistance has been waged from the rural regions against the military rulers. Thousands of people have been killed in the violence in the past two years. Hundreds of journalists, activists and opposition politicians have been arrested and some of them executed.
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